Man charged over attack on Kenya tourists

A man has appeared in court charged in connection with the kidnapping of a British tourist and the murder of her husband.

Ali Babitu Kololo, 25, faced charges of kidnapping and robbery with violence after 58-year-old David Tebbutt was shot dead and his wife Judith abducted from a remote holiday resort close to the Kenyan border with Somalia.

Mr Kololo is said to have worked at the Kiwayi Safari Village where the couple were staying.

He has claimed he was forced to co-operate with the gang at gunpoint and had voluntarily gone to the police the next day to report the crime.

The Tebbutts, from Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, had arrived at the Kiwayu after visiting the Masai Mara game reserve and were the resort's only guests.

The attack took place in the early hours of Sunday September 11.

A team of Metropolitan Police officers has travelled to Kenya to help local authorities with their investigations.

The Foreign Office also said a team has been deployed to the area from the High Commission in Nairobi and called for those involved in the kidnapping to "show compassion".

A second man Issa Sheck Saadi, was expected to appear in the same court.

According to latest reports, Mrs Tebbutt is being held near Haredhere, a pirate base nearly 200 miles (320 km) along the coast from the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Prime Minister David Cameron said last week that the Government was doing everything possible to resolve the kidnapping.

The Government's policy is not to pay ransoms to kidnappers.

The Daily Mail reported today that Mrs Tebbutt, 56, a social worker, was refusing food and defying her captors who are continually moving her to different locations.

PA