Hostage banker tells of hole-in-ground ordeal

A British banker kidnapped in Georgia nearly five months ago has told how he was freed in a gun battle in which one of his captors and another hostage were shot dead.

Peter Shaw, 57, emerged unharmed after being held “in a hole in the ground” in the remote Pankisi Gorge region since June 18.

The financial expert from Cowbridge, south Wales, said he had been “very frightened” during the shootout between Georgian troops and his kidnappers.

“I didn’t want to move from the bushes until I made sure the shooting was over,” he told state television after his release.

Reportedly wearing the same clothes as when he was abducted from outside his home in the capital Tblisi, Mr Shaw continued: “For the past four months, I’ve been kept in a hole in the ground and carried by the neck, haven’t been able to walk, had neither light nor sunlight, very difficult.”

“[Last night], four people came and took me from there and took me to the top of the mountain and then one of the guys took the gun from his shoulder, so I rushed into some bushes and then gunfire opened and one of the guys was shot.”

He was being held with another kidnapped businessman, who was reportedly shot by his captors during the rescue bid.

Mr Shaw’s daughter Lisa, 31, said her father’s release was “the end of a nightmare”.

“We were not sure if he was dead or alive and have been dreading the phone ringing,” she told the Daily Telegraph.

“It is the news we were hoping and praying for. We just can’t wait to see him.”

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he was delighted to hear of the release of Mr Shaw, who had been working on behalf of the European Commission in Tblisi at the time of his abduction.

“I was delighted when I heard that Peter Shaw had been released,” Mr Straw said last night.

“Our embassy in Tbilisi will do everything it can to ensure Mr Shaw is reunited with his family as soon as possible.

“I am most grateful to those involved in his release.”

Russian authorities say the Pankisi Gorge serves as a bolthole for Chechen rebels.