Sydney, August 04: An ambulance arrives outside a house where bomb squad officers were working to protect an 18-year-old girl in the exclusive Sydney suburb of Mosman August 3, 2011.Photograph by: Tim Wimborne, ReutersA teenage girl was recovering on Wednesday night after spending 10 hours with a suspected bomb strapped around her neck.
Police believe 18-year-old Madeleine Pulver was attacked in a bid to extort money from her father, the Sydney businessman Bill Pulver.
The teenager’s ordeal began when an intruder in a balaclava broke into her home and attached what he claimed was an explosive device around her neck.
She made a phone call and New South Wales police came to her home in the wealthy Sydney suburb of Mosman around 2pm local time.
As the drama unfolded, friends of Miss Pulver gathered near to her home to wait anxiously for news. One said: “We are here for Maddie.”
She was eventually freed soon after midnight. It is understood that British military bomb disposal experts offered advice to a local team as they tried to make the device safe.
Miss Pulver had to stay in one position for 10 hours after the intruder reportedly left a ransom note warning that he would detonate the collar bomb if she tried to escape.
There were reports that the criminal told Miss Pulver he had left a microphone with the bomb to monitor her remotely.
Bomb disposal experts described the device as “very elaborate” and “sophisticated”. After freeing the exhausted teenager, they refused to say whether the device contained a viable explosive.
Miss Pulver, who is a pupil at the private Wenona High School, was said to be shocked but physically unharmed.
The motive behind the attack remained unclear last night but police said extortion was a major line of inquiry. Mr Pulver, 53, is the chief executive of the software company Appen, which counts Microsoft, IBM, Toshiba and Motorola among its clients.
The family lives in a pounds 1.3?million home in one of the most sought-after streets in Sydney, with stunning views over the North Shore. Their neighbours include the leading racehorse trainer Gai Waterhouse and the former Australian rugby players Phil Kearns and John Eales.
Mark Murdoch, the assistant commissioner of the New South Wales police, said the family was “at a loss to explain” the attack.
“You would hardly think that someone would go to this much trouble if there wasn’t a motive behind it,” he said.
Mr Murdoch said Miss Pulver held up remarkably well “to something no one should have to endure”.
“She’s good,” he said. “She’s been kept in an uncomfortable position for more than 10 hours but now she is with her mother and father which is exactly the right place for her. A trip to hospital is on the agenda. She will be checked over by doctors.”
Detectives said Miss Pulver had spoken to the intruder and she had been able to give them a lot of information.
Mr Murdoch said: “This is an unusual incident for New South Wales and Australia. I’m not aware of this happening in the country before. I’ve been in this job for a long time and this is a very bizarre case.”
The Pulver family home is situated in one of Sydney’s most elegant suburbs. Properties in the area sell for more than pounds 1?million but serious crime in the area is uncommon and many Mosman mansions have minimal security.
–Agencies