Kidnap drama: two charged

Two men were charged in connection with the kidnapping of a 21-year-old man who was held hostage for more than 24 hours, said Scotland Yard today.

Christopher Whitcombe, 29, unemployed, of Beda Road, Canton, Cardiff, and Jason Germain, 30, unemployed of Angelina Street, Bute Town, Cardiff, will appear tomorrow at Horseferry Road Magistrates, central London.

They were charged with the kidnappping and false imprisonment of Merion Martin, and demanding money with menaces from John Martin, police said.

The man, from Wimbledon, south-west London, is alleged to have been kidnapped from an address in west London on Thursday afternoon.

In the early hours of Friday, police were alerted and the Metropolitan Police Organised Crime Group launched a major operation to find him.

It spanned three force areas - Avon and Somerset, Kent and the Met - and was supported by officers from the Met's Directorate of Intelligence and the National Crime Squad.

The drama came to an end minutes later at about 5.40pm yesterday when a rescue squad burst into the room at the Little Silver Country Hotel in Tenterden, Kent - using stun grenades to disorientate the hostage takers.

The kidnap victim was recovered unharmed but deeply traumatised after the ordeal.

More than 200 officers, including specialist firearms officers from Kent, were deployed on the rescue operation, which was led by Det Supt Jon Shatford, of the Met's Organised Crime Group.