AN AUSTRALIAN man has been arrested in America over a collar-bomb hoax in Sydney two weeks ago.
Madeleine Pulver (18) spent 10 hours with a fake bomb chained to her neck at her family’s home in the affluent north Sydney suburb of Mosman. She said a balaclava-clad man with “old, wrinkly eyes”, was responsible.
A note pinned to Ms Pulver reportedly made no specific demand for a ransom, but made reference to a character from the James Clavell novel Tai-Pan, which concerns a bitter feud between rival businessmen.
FBI agents arrested Paul Douglas Peters (50) at his ex-wife’s home in the town of La Grange, northeast of Louisville, Kentucky, yesterday morning (Australian time).
New South Wales police say Mr Peters flew out of Australia on August 8th, five days after Ms Pulver was attacked.
“He’s an Australian citizen, known to commute between here and the United States,” said New South Wales assistant police commissioner David Hudson.
“We’ll be alleging through the courts that the suspect we’ve arrested this morning was responsible for entering the Pulver home and placing the device around Madeleine’s neck,” he said.
Mr Peters, who has family in both Australia and America, had been in the Sydney region for about six weeks before the attack.
“There are some links between the suspect and the family, however no direct links and that’s still a matter of investigation,” said Mr Hudson added.
“The actual ins and outs of motive and everything else are yet to be determined and that’s part of our ongoing investigation.”
Local media is reporting that Mr Peters owns a home on the Central Coast, one hour north of Sydney, close to where the Pulver family has a holiday house. A computer was removed by police from a library in the area last week.
Mr Peters was not a suspect until after he left Australia.
“He became a suspect to us once he had left, the circumstantial evidence we were going through at the time didn’t identify the suspect [before he left],” said Mr Hudson.
The New South Wales police are seeking to have Mr Peters extradited to Australia as soon as possible, where he will face charges including kidnapping, breaking and entering and demanding property with menaces.
Ms Pulver’s father, Bill, thanked the police for their efforts.
“On behalf of Maddie and the entire family, we are enormously relieved that an arrest has been made in the United States overnight,” Mr Pulver said.
“This past two weeks has been a very difficult time for us and we are hopeful that this development marks the beginning of the end of this traumatic ordeal for our family.
“This has been a baffling and frightening experience. It has tested us all.
“Our priority as a family has been to provide a loving and supportive environment to Maddie, and try as best we can to get her life back to normal.”
Mr Pulver is chief executive of technology company Appen Butler Hill, whose customers are large IT firms and government bodies, including the US defence department.