This month five British officers and 35 others were taken hostage in Sierra Leone and nine

This month, five British officers and 35 others were taken hostage in Sierra Leone and nine Britons were abducted in three incidents in the southern Delta region of Nigeria. Mr Decoux said the group had been captured after it was separated from 80 to 90 Liberian UN workers.Joan Colenso and Agnes Nam, mothers of two of the captives, expressed their relief last night. The news was like bursting "a huge bubble of pressure and worry", said Ms Colenso.The kidnapping was the latest in a series of hostage crises in West Africa. "I understand they were never subjected to violence and their captors were courteous and polite all the time," said Alain Decoux, who is co-ordinating the airlift.The four Britons will fly to Conakry where they will be offered 48 hours of counselling and given the choice of returning to Liberia or flying home.

Dr Mike Roe, 33, from London, midwife Sara Nam, 30, of Carmarthen, west Wales, and logistics expert David Heed, 26, of Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, had all been working for Merlin, an emergency medical aid charity, while Peter Colenso, 28, an education expert from Surrey, was employed by the US-based International Rescue Committee. A 12-seat plane chartered by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) was sent to Kissidougou, the nearest safe airstrip to the Liberian border, to bring them to the capital. THE FOUR British aid workers captured by an armed faction in the jungle of Liberia were enjoying their first day of freedom in eastern Guinea yesterday before being flown to Conakry, the capital. He was taken to St Peter's Hospital in Surrey then transferred to St George's Hospital in Tooting.Doctors advised that William, who was on a life support machine for several days, would possibly attempt suicide again and recommended he stay in the hospital.However, prison guards came to take him away when he was able to stand up and talk again.William has already made another attempt to harm himself and is now on 24-hour suicide watch in the health care centre at Feltham.The Howard League, which campaigns for penal reform, is now taking Hounslow Council to court to force it to intervene."We feel for a full and independent investigation to be done, the local authority should intervene," said Fran Russell of the Howard League.However, Hounslow Council says it does not have the legal jurisdiction to intervene.Yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Prison Service said that it was not prepared to release the teenager because it could encourage inmates to harm themselves in order to obtain early release.. The prison is also conducting its own internal inquiry.The boy's solicitor had warned that William was at risk because it was his first offence and prison would be his first time away from home.However, he was sent to Feltham, the largest young offenders institute in Europe, and put in a cell with three boys.He was found hanging from a sheet early the next morning and one of his cell mates was left to resuscitate him while they waited for a nurse to arrive.Medical notes show that William suffered a cardiac arrest after his suicide attempt. A 15-YEAR-OLD boy who tried to kill himself after being sent to Britain's toughest young offenders institution has been forced to return there despite protests from doctors who fear he has suffered brain damage. William Pasquale, who has learning difficulties, was found with a makeshift noose around his neck in his cell at Feltham Young Offenders Institute, Middlesex, where four boys have already committed suicide. His suicide attempt came just hours after he arrived at the prison to serve a two-month sentence following an incident with a stolen car.Last night penal reform campaigners condemned the Prison Service for refusing to release the teenager on compassionate grounds - especially as he only has a few days left to serve of his sentence.Police investigating the incident, which happened last month, are treating it as "suspicious".

Then look at holding that money in a flexible mortgage account Scottish Widows offers an idealflexible mortgage.. These are not for thefaint-hearted, but may suit Mr Newsome quite nicely in due course. In summary, I would suggest that Mr Newsome considers the business expansion plans carefully and tries to ascertain how muchmoney is going to be required. With the next £1,000 he couldpurchase Martin Currie Japan unit trust, and so on. If, in due course, Mr Newsome really wanted to "spice up" his portfolio, then he could consider capital shares, which are "geared"investments that exaggerate movements on the market in both an upward and downward direction. Consequently they have enormouspotential to do very well; they do not provide an income and, because of their risk, are not suitable for everyone, but they areparticularly attractive investments. One particular favourite is Jupiter Split which is available via a savings plan and lump-sum investment and whose performance hasbeen quite impressive this year, rising 17 per cent, whereas the FTSE100 index has returned 3.7 per cent.