Freed hostages recall life of hell among pirates

The retired couple, poised to return to the UK after more than a year in captivity, revealed they were assaulted by their kidnappers after refusing to be separated.

Their 368-day ordeal ended on Sunday after a ransom was reportedly paid. The money is said to have come from private investors and the Somali government.

The Government strongly denied that some of the money had come out of British aid to the African country, emphasising its long-held policy of refusing to pay ransoms to hostage-takers.

The Chandlers were kidnapped last November during a round-the-world sailing trip, when their 38ft yacht, the Lynn Rival, was stormed by armed men.

They were still in captivity when Mr Chandler's father died in July. The couple only learned of his death on their release.

As news of their freedom prompted joyous scenes in the UK, the couple described the cruel conditions they endured after the pirates forced them from their yacht and brought them ashore.

Mr Chandler, 60, said: "The worst time was when we had to abandon our home and boat...in the ocean."

His wife, 56, added: "Abandoning Lynn Rival when we were taken on board the container ship and brought eventually on shore was the worst time.

"Another time that was very traumatic was when they decided to separate us. We were really distraught, we were very frightened at that point.

"We refused to be separated and we were beaten as a result. That was very traumatic."

After being handed over to local officials in the Somali town of Adado, the couple were flown to the capital, Mogadishu, and on to Nairobi in Kenya.

The Chandler family has refused to comment on how the couple's freedom was secured for fear of encouraging other similar abductions.

But they have said it was a "difficult" task conveying the message that the couple were two retired people on a sailing trip on a small private yacht and not part of a commercial enterprise worth millions.

"Thankfully, common sense finally prevailed and a solution was obtained for their release in the last few days," they said in a statement.

"There will be the inevitable questions of how their release was achieved.

"The family believes it would be irresponsible to discuss any aspect of the release process as this could encourage others to capture private individuals and demand large ransom payments, something that we are sure none of us wants."

The Mayor of Adado, Mohamed Aden, suggested the Chandlers had been on the verge of release in June after a ransom payment of "somewhere like" $450,000 (about 280,000).

But he said the pirates held out for more and only agreed to free the couple after receiving a second payment of "somewhere like" $350,000 (about 218,000), raised by Somalis living both abroad and in the country.

The mayor also suggested that other groups had offered to buy the Chandlers from the pirates.

"The sad thing was," he said, "some people from Nairobi or other places called them and said that 'we will give you more money on top of what you get from them and we want Paul and Rachel to hand out to us',"

A spokeswoman for the Department for International Development said: "No part of the UK aid budget has been used to help secure the Chandlers' release, nor to benefit pirates.

"The British Government does not pay ransoms to hostage takers."

She added: "We channel all our aid through UN agencies and well established and trusted charities. None of it goes through the Somali government."

Jacqueline Charlton, a neighbour of the Chandlers, who live in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, said she was looking forward to their homecoming.

"It's been such a long time," she said. "They've been given a punishment worse than most criminals."

David Cameron said: "It's hard to imagine what that family have been through and it's great that they are now safely in Kenya, soon to be flying home."