Pensioners found guilty of torturing financial adviser

A gang of pensioners has been found guilty of kidnapping and torturing their financial adviser.

Ring-leader Ronald Kaspar, 74, was sentenced to six years for his role, while his wife Segoline, 80, received a suspended sentence.

Kaspar's accomplice, who helped orchestrate the kidnap, received four years, while another pensioner will be sentenced at a later date due to health problems.

Financial adviser James Amburn was kidnapped by two retired couples when investments they made in US property fell in value.

While the US sub-prime mortgage crisis was largely responsible for their losses, they instead chose to blame their adviser.  They had initially tried to recover their money through the courts, but when that failed they turned to kidnap.

In a four-day ordeal, they drove Amburn 280 miles to southern Bavaria, where they tortured him in an attempt to get a refund of €2.5m in lost investments.

He was bound and beaten in a cellar at a holiday cottage near Lake Chiemsee, and says the gang had threatened to kill him.

He was only freed when he hid a message to call the police in a fax the pensioners forced him to send to his Swiss bank.  Hours later police stormed the building and the gang were arrested.

The gang argued they had merely taken Amburn for a holiday in Bavaria, but were found guilty of offences including kidnap and grievous bodily harm.