Bomb hoax resembled ‘Hollywood film script’

POLICE were hunting a masked man who chained a fake bomb to a young woman’s neck after breaking into her wealthy family’s home in an extortion attempt that Australia’s prime minister said resembled “a Hollywood script”.

In a climactic scene late on Wednesday, bomb squad specialists safely freed Madeleine Pulver after 10 harrowing hours with the device attached around her neck. The 18-year-old was not hurt and police later determined the device contained no explosives.

A note of demands had been attached to the device, New South Wales state Police Detective Superintendent Luke Moore said, though he declined to specify what the demands were.