Gang leader held after missionary’s murder

THE alleged ringleader of a Nigerian gang who kidnapped and killed a British missionary has been arrested after a two month-long manhunt.

The suspect, who is wanted for the murder of Ian Squire, the Surrey optician, and the kidnapping of three other British missionaries, was held by Nigerian security forces in the southern Delta region yesterday.

Mr Squire, 57, and his three companions – David Donovan, a GP from Cambridgeshire, his wife Shirley, also 57, and Alanna Carson, from Fife – were working at a clinic in the town of Enekoragha when an armed gang abducted them on Oct 13 last year. The next day, he was shot dead by the gang after he tried to cheer up his fellow hostages by playing Amazing Grace on his acoustic guitar.

Mr Donovan said he believed that the gang had shot at Mr Squire in a panic after fearing the noise of the music would give their location away.