Kidnappers lose nerve, leave tycoon's son in woods

German Reinhold Wurth poses, 25 January 2008 in Erstein, eastern France, at the new art museum owned by the globally-operating Wurth Group. Photo / Johanna Leguerre

The mentally disabled adult son of a German billionaire was kidnapped and held for ransom for several hours this week, it emerged yesterday.

Police imposed a news blackout after Markus Wurth was kidnapped from a care home on Wednesday afternoon (local time). Wurth, 50, is the son of Reinhold Wurth, 80, known in Germany as the Schrauben-Konig, or "Screw-King", for his family hardware business. The older Wurth has an estimated net worth of US$7.4 billion ($10.7 billion), according to Forbes magazine. The unknown kidnappers reportedly demanded a ransom of 2 million ($3.275 million) for his son.

However, they appear to have lost their nerve and left him chained to a tree in a wood.

The kidnappers sent police GPS co-ordinates of where to find Wurth, according to newspaper Bild. The news blackout was lifted after Wurth was recovered unharmed.

The Wurth Group confirmed the kidnapping had taken place and a spokesman said the company would be making no further comment.

The police said that no ransom had been paid.

The younger Wurth's family reported him missing after he did not turn up to lunch, according to reports.

He has been disabled since childhood because of a vaccination that went wrong and lives in a home for disabled people.

Some 40 police officers and 50 local firefighters took part in an initial search with sniffer dogs. After the ransom demand was received, police sealed off the area and began a nationwide search.

Police have asked anyone with any information that could lead them to Wurth's abductors to come forward.