Kidnapping of British couple was ‘Isil-inspired’

The alleged kidnappers of a British couple who went missing in South Africa plotted to kill the “infidel non-believers” in an Isil-inspired plot, a court has heard.

Rodney Saunders, 74, and his wife Rachel, 63, went missing on February 12 in the north of Kwazulu-natal province. Appearing at Verulam magistrates’ court yesterday, Bibi Fatima Patel, 26, her husband Sayfudeen Del Vecchio, 38, and Themba Xulu allegedly discussed a kidnapping in which they would “kill the kuffar”, a term used for “infidels”.