PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Family and friends of a woman kidnapped in Kenya after her husband was shot may have to wait several days before hearing from her captors, an expert has said.
Kidnap-for-ransom consultant Ben Lopez said it is now a "waiting game" to see what the gang who kidnapped Judith Tebbutt, 56, and killed her 58-year-old husband David, want.
Mrs Tebbutt was snatched from the remote Kiwayu Safari Village, close to the Kenyan border with Somalia, during the early hours of Sunday. Her husband was shot after apparently resisting the gang who raided their beach cottage, which only had a piece of cloth as a door, at the exclusive resort, which has played host to artist Tracey Emin and actress Imelda Staunton.
Police in Kenya are reported to have arrested a man suspected of being involved in Mr Tebbutt's murder and the kidnap of his widow - who is believed to be deaf and to wear a double hearing aid.
The couple, from Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, had come from visiting the Masai Mara game reserve and were the resort's only guests.
The gang, thought to be from Somalia, apparently used a speedboat to get away from the isolated island resort and there has been speculation that they are from al Qaida-linked insurgent group al Shabab, which holds much of southern Somalia.
But hostage negotiator Mr Lopez, who works for Compass Risk Management which specialises in the prevention and mitigation of incidents of kidnap, maritime piracy and extortion, said it was now a case of waiting for their demands.
"We don't know if it's al Shabab or a regular kidnap-for-ransom. We just don't know, and that's part of the game," said Mr Lopez, who has written a book called The Negotiator.
"In general if it's a kidnap-for-ransom then frankly the authorities' hands are tied because no government wants to be seen as negotiating and/or doing business with kidnappers because if it ever got out then no British national would be safe again. The police tend to have a similar approach. And here, the problem is it seems likely that the kidnappers are in Somalia where there are no authorities."
He said it was likely the kidnap was planned, rather than opportunistic, and it could be some days before the kidnappers got in touch.