Inquest into death of Oldham hostage

An inquest will open today in Wiltshire into the death of an Oldham man held hostage for ten months before he was killed.

Chris McManus, 28, Italian co-worker Franco Lamolinara died on March 8, 2012 as Nigerian troops and UK Special Boat Service (SBS) commandos tried to rescue them.

Mr McManus, a contract worker for the construction company B.Stabilini was in the country to build a bank. He was was taken from Birnin-Kebbi in the north-west of Nigeria in May last year. Raiders stormed his apartment and captured him along with Mr Lamolinara.

In December a Nigerian group calling itself Al Qaida in the land beyond the Sahil announced it had captured Mr McManus. They released a hostage video of two blindfolded men begging for their lives.

A bid to rescue the pair was apparently brought forward because the kidnappers became aware that the net was closing around them. It's believed the men were executed by their captors before help got to them.