Jude Tebbutt was on holiday in Kenya with her husband David in 2011 when she was snatched in the dead of night by Somali pirates wielding AK47s. 

Unbeknown to Jude at the time, the gunmen murdered her husband that night and held her for ransom in squalor, with barely any food, in filthy conditions for six and a half months. 

Jude explains how she developed techniques to help her survive, stay mentally strong, cope with the daily threat of being shot and make it home “without going mad” to her wonderful 25-year-old son Ollie who negotiated her eventual release.  Jude is a patron of Sir Terry Waite’s charity Hostage International – supporting kidnap victims and their families, and author of A Long Walk Home. 

Photograph courtesy of N Nastia Photography