It’s about 2pm on a crisp Wednesday afternoon in August 2011, and 18-year-old Madeleine Pulver is in her family’s three-story waterfront mansion in the glitzy Sydney suburb of Mosman. She’s studying for her HSC trials, the practice run before the final exams for Year 12s in the state of NSW.

The house is quiet today. Her two younger brothers are at school and her older brother is away. Her dad Bill, head of a multi-million-dollar global software company, is in his city office and her mum Belinda is out consulting with her landscape gardening company. Madeleine’s home alone.

Suddenly, the silence is broken by a man wearing a rainbow ski mask carrying a baseball bat, who bursts into the room.

“Sit down and no one needs to get hurt,” he tells her.

The masked man pulls out a black box that’s being held up by what looks like a bike chain, which he fastens around her throat.

After locking it, he places a lanyard holding a USB stick and two pages of demands around her neck. Then he walks away. But not before he tells a terrified Madeleine to count to 200.

“I’ll be back…” he warns. “If you move…. I can see you…. I’ll be right here.”

THE END BITS

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Guests: Gil Taylor & Mark Morri

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