Would-be rescuer ‘left out in cold

A man who organised a plan to return Hamish Sands to New Zealand almost two weeks before he died says the Government left him and his scheme out in the cold.

John Halliday, director of Extreme Group in Cambridge, said he had a plan - costing $660,000 - to fly to the Ivory Coast and retrieve Mr Sands.

Mr Halliday was working with a former military man, Mike Subritzky, who was in direct contact with the rebels.

"By March 18 we had a full plan - a flight plan, people to go, rebels at the other end ready to hand him over. He was to be returned to New Zealand on March 26," Mr Halliday told the Herald last night.

Mr Halliday said he was told by Foreign Affairs officials to sit and wait after he requested Government funds for the plan.

"March 26 came and went and nothing happened. To be blunt about it, I believe Foreign Affairs didn't take it seriously enough at the time and moved too slowly."

The rebels cut off communication with Mr Subritzky after March 26, Mr Halliday said. Mr Sands was found dead in his prison cell on April 6.

Mr Halliday said he still did not know why the Government did not pursue the idea. "They left us out in the cold."

Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff said the ministry saw no plan from Mr Halliday.

"The ministry was asked for $660,000 to charter a plane up there. We never saw any plan. Any release would have been negotiated with the people we were talking with - the Red Cross, the United Nations, the South African Government - not by some others who followed the matter up on a website.

"Any analysis of this just requires a little common sense."

Although Mr Subritzky claimed to have been in contact with several key New Forces rebels, including spokesman Drissa Ouattara, Mr Goff said these were low-level people.

The minister rejected the notion that the presence of a New Zealand diplomat in Ivory Coast would have applied more pressure for Mr Sands' release. He said one was on standby in London.