Organization of a Long-term Kidnap

Abstract

A kidnap can be conducted by a lone criminal and, because of his lack of resources and support, he may be driven to the greatest brutality of all when he feels himself being cornered, as was illustrated by the chilling story of the kidnap and murder of Lesley Whittle by Donald Neilson in 1975 (see Chapter 15). More often, however, an urban kidnap is carried out by a group consisting of between 5 and 50 individuals. The larger groups are usually politically motivated since professional criminals keep their numbers down both to avoid risk of betrayal and to reduce the wage bill or the share-out of the ransom.