German pensioners took financial adviser hostage, court hears

Prosecutors say man was abducted and beaten by group of retirees over lost US investments
Defendants Roland K (right) and Willi D (left) at the Traunstein court, near Munich. Photograph: Jörg Koch/AFP/Getty Images

A retired architect and four other pensioners took their financial adviser hostage and held him in a purpose-built prison in Bavaria after their stock market investments failed, a court has heard.

The 74-year-old architect, identified only as Roland K, told a court in Traunstein, southern Germany, that he and his accomplices thought their financial adviser had "cheated and taken the piss" out of them after their investments in the US property market evaporated. As a result, he told the court, they had "decided to invite him for a few days' holiday in Upper Bavaria".

Roland K denied kidnapping but admitted the group, including his seventh wife, 79-year-old Sieglinde, Willi D, 60, and Iris F, 64, a retired doctor, abducted James Amburn at his home in Speyer, southern Germany, in June before transporting him in the boot of a car to Roland K's house at the lakeside resort of Chiemsee, where he had built a prison for him in the cellar.

Four of the gang are on trial for the abduction and imprisonment of American-born 56-year-old Amburn. The trial of Gerhard F, a 67-year old retired doctor who is the husband of Iris F, has been postponed because of his poor health.

According to prosecutors the group hoped to force Amburn to repay their lost €2.5m (£2.2m). He was freed by an armed police unit after four days when he managed to send a coded message to his Swiss bank requesting help.

According to the charge sheet, the group tied Amburn up in a purpose-built container, in which they transported him to the boot of Roland K's car. When the car stopped at the house and Amburn tried to flee, he was allegedly beaten. The group then allegedly brought him to the garage for questioning, during which they served him coffee and cake, and forced him to sign documents in which he promised to pay back the lost investments.

Roland K today told the court how he weighed up how to retrieve his lost money from Amburn and decided to take the matter into his own hands. He said the aim of the dungeon, which he referred to as an "emergency guestroom", had been to get Amburn "to pull out his chequebook".

The accused face a minimum of five years in jail if they are found guilty.

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