LOYALIST paramilitaries are believed to have been responsible for holding the wife and daughter of the assistant manager of a Belfast cinema complex hostage.
The mother and three-year-old child were recovering yesterday after being held for ransom by a group of masked men in their south Belfast home. A sum of money was left at a designated spot on the Shankill Road and the victims were released unharmed after 90 minutes.
The men burst into the house in the Village area of the Donegall Road at about 5 p.m. on Thursday. The woman's husband was telephoned at the Virgin Cinema complex on the Dublin Road and a told that his wife and child had been doused with petrol. He was told that they would be set alight if he didn't leave cash at a specified location. He is believed to have left £3,000 at the drop-off point on the Shankill. It was later discovered that the mother and child were not doused with petrol.
The family was not at home yesterday and a spokesman for the Virgin cinema said that they were recovering from their ordeal at another address.
"The matter is now in the hands of the police, who will be investigating it further. Other than that, we have no comment to make," he said.
A police spokesman described it as a "despicable crime". Senior security sources said they believed that loyalists were responsible. It was too well-organised to be the work of ordinary criminals, they added.
Meanwhile, an 18-year-old man is recovering in hospital after a "punishment" beating in north Belfast early yesterday. He suffered suspected broken legs after he was attacked in the New Lodge area. He already had pins in his legs from a previous beating.