Greer held hostage in farmhouse by female student

THe Feminist author and broadcaster Germaine Greer was left badly shaken after being attacked and held hostage by an intruder in her Essex home, it was revealed last night.

Police confirmed that a 19-year-old Nottingham student has been charged with unlawful imprisonment and assault causing actual bodily harm on Ms Greer at her isolated farmhouse in Great Chesterford, near Saffron Walden. Ms Greer suffered minor injuries in the attack, Essex police confirmed.

Ms Greer, author of the best-selling The Female Eunuch, a feminist handbook for the Seventies, lives alone, apart from her cats, in her large Georgian home set in a walled garden.

It is understood that the woman was known to Ms Greer and had previously been warned by police to keep away from the author's home. She is due to appear before Harlow Magistrates Court on 4 May following the incident on Monday.

Last night an Essex Police spokeswoman said they had been called to a property in Great Chesterford "where a resident was held in her house against her will". Ms Greer declined to comment.