Bigley's wife to become nun in exchange for freedom

The Thai wife of kidnapped British engineer Ken Bigley today vowed will become a Buddhist nun for three days if her prayers for his safe return are answered.

Sombat, 35, has been staying with her sister near Bangkok and regularly goes to a Buddhist temple to burn incense and pray for her husband’s return.

“If he comes back to me safely, I will ordain to be a nun for three days,” she said. “All my family vowed to the various holy spirits for his safe return.”

The militants posted a videotape on an Islamic Web site in which Mr Bigley, 62, from Liverpool was seen sobbing and repeatedly pleading for Prime Minister Tony Blair to help save his life.

Sombat has repeatedly pleaded on television for her husband’s release.

“I want to send a message to the abductors: I’m begging them to release my husband. My husband is a good person. He’s the only one who feeds my family,” she said .

Sombat recalled that just three months ago, her husband had been celebrating the construction of their new house in Thailand, where they plan to retire. He then went back to work in Iraq, but the couple – married seven years – planned to reunite around the end of this month, she said.

But then he was kidnapped, and she saw his videotaped plea for mercy.

“I felt so bad to see his picture, without him I have no one to look after me,” Sombat said.

Members of Sombat’s family, in their village in the poor north-eastern province of Surin, have described Bigley as friendly and helpful during his stays there.

“While with us, Ken took care of the house. He even helped my daughter in the rice field during the cultivation season,” Sombat’s father, 69-year-old Lib Sa-gnuandee, said: “They were an ordinary couple, who lived a simple life. All the neighbours are fond of him.”

Mr Bigley and two American colleagues – who have already been beheaded by their captors – were kidnapped from their house in Baghdad on September 16. The militants have threatened to also kill the Briton unless Iraqi women are freed from prison.