Australian teenager in collar bomb plot freed after ten hours

A TEENAGER who had a suspected bomb strapped around her neck in an apparent extortion attempt was finally freed by bomb disposal experts yesterday after a ten-hour ordeal.

Australian Madeleine Pulver, 18, told police a stranger in a balaclava broke into her family home, in the wealthy Sydney Harbour suburb of Mosman, and attached the device leaving a ransom note before fleeing yesterday afternoon.

She called for help and bomb squad officers arrived at the house. They consulted with other experts, including the British military, before attempting to remove the device, which police last night described as a "collar bomb" of sophisticated design. There remained doubt last night whether the device was viable.

Ms Pulver, daughter of a millionaire business couple, was taken to hospital suffering from shock. She was said to be in good spirits last night.

"The manner in which it was located in proximity to the young lady was such that it has taken us the better part of ten hours to secure her release," New South Wales police assistant commissioner Mark Murdoch said. "The examination of that device will continue."

Even if it turns out in due course to have been a terrrifying hoax, the terror was all too real for the young victim.

Mr Murdoch added: "I have been doing this job a long time and this is the most bizarre case I've come across in my career."

Asked how Madeleine was doing, he replied: "She is good. She has been kept in a very uncomfortable position for a very long time, in excess of ten hours, and will be uncomfortable for some time to come.

"But she is with mum and dad, the most important people to be with at this particular time."

Madeleine's father, William Pulver, 53, is said to be one of the wealthiest men in Sydney. Her mother, Belinda, 51, runs a landscaping company.

The couple were outside the house comforting each other as bomb disposal officers attempted to remove the device from their daughter's neck.

Mr Pulver is the chief executive of technology company Appen, which provides linguistic support for language and data businesses, including Microsoft, Google and Nokia. He used to have a senior job with market research company AC Neilsen.

Mr Murdoch said officers didn't know if the girl and her family were deliberately targeted. He said: "Certainly the family is at a loss to explain this.

"You hardly think someone would go to so much trouble if there was no motive behind it, what that motive is will be disclosed in the fullness of time. She certainly had some interaction with whoever was responsible for this but that level of interaction is now for our detectives to determine."He said police had deliberately not released too much information about the incident, which began about 2:20pm local time and ended around as they "were not aware as to who was listening to and watching the media reports".

However, he said information provided by Madeleine had provided investigators with a number of leads: "We want to get our hands on whoever has done this pretty quickly."

Madeleine had reportedly just returned from a family trip to New York.