A Long Walk Home: One Woman's Story of Kidnap, Hostage, Loss - and Survival (34 page)

The layout of the ‘Tall Man’s House’ compound where Jude was held for two periods, in January 2012 and again in February until her release in March: ‘There was little to the fencing of this place that could have prevented me from slinking away …but the fencing was not the prison. The village was the prison. Somalia was a prison. I had nowhere to go.’

The layout of Jude’s room in the ‘Tall Man’s House.’

Jude in a clearing outside Adado, awaiting confirmation from the pirates of her release, 21 March 2012. ‘[In] a clearing marked out by four big mature trees … hemmed by lots of tall shrubbery. Here, the pirate convoy had gathered … Mr Red trained a little video camera on me. He even asked me to walk around a little. I flat refused to play the circus act for him, and stood there, looking away from his lens, but for an occasional glare.’

Jude receives a phone call from Ollie while waiting to be taken to Adado’s airstrip from the official buildings of the Himan & Heeb regional administration, 21 March 2012.

Jude is released into the care of her rescuers, then led to the light aircraft that will fly her out of Somalia to Nairobi, 21 March 2012. ‘I just stood there, feeling the breeze, conscious of a small throng of people to my right snapping photos. I tried to shield my face … Almost by instinct my feet started moving me … And then I was inside the plane, the door was wrenched shut, Jack called out, ‘Go, go, go …!’

The British High Commission, Nairobi (opposite), where Jude was taken directly after her release and reunited with her son Ollie. ‘I was brought inside this palatial house, all light and fragrance, beautiful fresh flowers arranged on polished walnut tables, staff in stiff-starched white jackets. I was so glad of these surroundings. But really there was only one thing I wanted done on my behalf.’

Jude addresses the annual international conference of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) in Seville, Spain, October 2012.

Jude, spring 2013, one year on from her release. ‘I feel right now that David wants me to carry on. I think he would have been proud of me, of the way I got through my ordeal … My life won’t be the same, but it is life itself, and its value is clear: it is all that we have … it must be cherished, respected, never ever taken for granted.’