An Essex solicitor who was kidnapped last year when he refused to participate in a financial fraud is currently under police protection as detectives issued a public appeal last week to trace two men wanted in connection with his kidnap.

The solicitor, who cannot be named, was abducted in July 2003 after refusing to help a gang of men who approached him to assist in a high-value fraud operation against high street banks NatWest and Lloyds TSB.


He was held for one day in a number of locations across south Essex including Southend, Harlow and Grays. He was released the next day when police arrested ten men in their 20s and 30s from Essex, London and Hertfordshire. They are currently in custody awaiting trial on charges of false imprisonment, conspiracy to defraud and demanding money with menace. However, police are still trying to trace Mark Wylde of Thurrock in Essex and Thomas Lawlor, of either Leeds or London, in connection with the kidnap.


A police spokesman said that a provisional trial date for the ten suspects has been set for January. He added that the amount of the attempted fraud is believed to be a six or seven-figure sum.