Australian woman freed in bomb scare

An Australian woman was freed from a suspected bomb hung around her neck after a ten hour ordeal.

The 18-year-old, Madeleine Pulver, had been trapped in her house in Sydney by a masked man who wired her up and reportedly demanded a ransom. Police finally released her and said that the device had turned out to be a “very, very elaborate hoax”.

“We have secured the release of the young lady. She is safe and sound. Our investigation of the crime scene will now begin in earnest,” New South Wales assistant police commissioner Mark Murdoch told reporters.

He said Ms Pulver had interaction with the person the police believed to be responsible for the scare, but could not confirm a ransom note had been left at the scene. “You’d hardly think that someone would go to this much trouble if there wasn’t a motive behind it. What that motive is, as I’ve indicated, we are still not aware,” Murdoch said.

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