All language subtitles for Banged Up Abroad - Season 2 Episode 2 Uganda

We were only going for six months. I
didn't think about this.

We felt very strongly about what we had
to do.

Both of us were thinking today could be
the day that we're freed.

Or it could be the day that we're
killed.

I was working in Ross and Wine. I was
assistant manager in the community

and also teaching Tai Chi.

And here's John working as a builder.

I was actually off sick for nearly a
whole year with a lot of back pain. And

started doing some volunteer work at the
local daycare centre, which was for

adults with learning difficulties, so
physically and mentally handicapped.

What, here?

Can't make it worse or better.

It was attractive to me, to John. He was
also interested in the spiritual way of

looking at life, and I was. Sorry about
that.

In September 1996, we met up with this
friend of mine, Chris Hunter.

And he was working for Quaker Peace and
Service in Chechnya.

So Chris made us aware that it was a war
zone and there had been fighting there.

It was a Russian -Chechen engagement and
now there was a ceasefire.

He'd managed to take a small group of
children out of the area in a lull in

bombing.

And then he said, well, look, now the
fighting's stopped. Now's the time to

up a permanent centre.

to help the children, and he turned to
us, and he just said... I have to say,

though, when I was there, I actually
imagined you guys being there.

Us? Yeah. And that really set me
buzzing.

Really? Really? And I thought, you know,
I'd love to do something like this.

It was much more of a challenge than my
day -to -day work of doing somebody's

driveway or building a small patio.

I personally didn't think about the risk
involved.

It just felt so important just to go.

We filled this car. The car was pretty
darn full.

And it's like, wow, OK, we're starting
on this big adventure.

It did feel very exciting.

We were going to set up this centre for
these war -traumatised children.

We were only going for six months.

I mean, that was the deal.

As we got closer to Grozny, it really
began to hit us that we were in a war

zone.

I thought, this is a vision of hell.

How could people live here still?

What do they do for food? What do they
do for water? How do they live here?

We arrived at the place we were going to
be living at. There was two armed

guards that had been kidnapped in the
past, hence that we needed these

guards with us all the time.

So the morning arrived when the kids
were going to come to the centre and I

very nervous actually, very nervous.

And I've piled all these children
bearing in levels of trauma. Some of the

had lost some of their family or all of
their family.

They survived but they're damaged inside
because of what they've seen, what

they've experienced.

The idea was to find ways of helping
them release their fear.

you know, actually bring some joy back
into their lives.

I was actually the only guy, right? I
had to play the fool a lot

to be, you know, just really silly, like
the clown.

But at least it sort of got some of them
laughing.

Even by the end of that day, you could
see they were more excited and alive.

as it progressed, it was wonderful to
see how they changed.

There's a young boy called Ruslan.

He'd lost his father in the war, and he
sort of latched on to me.

I just looked round at John and I
thought, yeah, it's like, this is

that he'd dreamt of doing and now it's
happening.

And it had been a pretty full -on week.
You know, we were pretty whacked that we

took ourselves off the bed pretty early.

Sort of about 10 o 'clock -ish.

And I woke up sometime in the night and
I thought I heard something.

What?

Hear that? We heard these angry voices.

It's not like someone argued.

And at first we were listening, we were
wondering, is that just our guards

having a bit of an argument?

But then we could hear other voices.

And that's when we were on full alert,
just waiting to see what was going to

happen.

A bedroom door was kicked in and then
came this flaming piece of paper.

It was followed by this masked man
carrying a Kalashnikov and he was

Okay,

I'm

just going to stamp back.

Stay calm.

We heard someone in the next room
getting very excited.

And he shouted something.

And the man said to John, where's the
key?

And they were talking about a safe.

I thought, OK, they've come to clean us
out. They've come to sort of

take our money.

But I'm just going to do whatever he
asks.

It's over.

I don't get shot.

We are English.

Do you understand?

Under the direction of the muzzle of a
gun, I go through to open the safe.

I can see in the kitchen area there are
a couple of more armed masked men. And I

think, well, there's no chance of doing
a runner.

I could live.

over to the safe and i thought well
you're not going to like this guys

and i turned the

keys

out

cascaded a load of colored balls that we
just brought back from moscow there's

no money in there

I wanted to know what had happened to
our two armed guards.

So I actually looked back and there the
others were tied up.

I was intensely scared at that moment. I
remember that my heart was really

going... I was breathing like this.

I can hear Camilla breathing.

I can hear her breath rushing.

I try to memorise tunes as the car goes
up our street and then I get

totally disorientated.

This man pulled me out of the car.

I remember his muscly kind of forearms.

And then he just let me go.

And I just kept walking, and suddenly...
I

hear

all these gun cock, and so I freeze.

And then there's this silence.

And

then

I realized that

Camilla's obviously fallen down.

And they're just like, bastards.

For shit.

Understand?

For shit.

Understand.

Hello, we're not... Well, I think that's
it. I think we've been kidnapped.

What? You're right.

Oh, my legs are really thin.

By whom, at that time, we didn't know
who.

And for how long, we didn't know.

I have to talk to you.

That's when my mind started going, oh,
my gosh, how long is it going to be

before anybody even knows we've been
kidnapped?

Oh, my God.

When we woke up the next morning, the
door opens.

The masked man came in carrying a gun.

How are you?

Yeah, we're fine, thanks, okay.

I thought, thank God, you know, because
he actually made it possible for us to

start talking.

I like theatre very much.

Do you like the theatre?

Yes, we both like the theatre.

He said, do you like the theatre?

And they said, oh, shit, you know, he's
just sort of reading stuff out of the

book. It's not really from a deeper
thought, it's just being spewed out of a

book. The weather, no good.

Rainy. He sat down beside me on the camp

bed.

Now, this was scary, this was very
scary, and my heart was going.

I like theatre very much.

So this guy then put his hand on
Camilla's knee.

Is that good?

I thought, oh, this is a bit dodgy.

I thought, well, I've got to do
something to intervene.

Is that good?

It's a very high, tense state.

It's like walking on this knife edge,
and it's life one side and death the

side, and we're walking down this very
fine line.

So I'm wondering where this is going to
go.

Are all of these guys going to have a go
at Camilla?

The two have been named as John James
and Camilla Carr.

On Thursday night, half a dozen armed
gunmen burst in and abducted them.

In the present lawless atmosphere in
Chechnya, getting the two aid workers

released could prove a difficult
business.

No,

we didn't know that they might have been
taking us over to kill us.

I knew that the guys there had been
fighting for two years.

I knew they had killed people.

So the end of this journey got some
steps pushed into another room.

And they took off our blindfolds. And
that was extraordinary because we were

quite a large paint room with a kind of
parquet, shiny floor.

I certainly felt relief.

The next morning they allowed us out and
then we realised we were in a flat.

And they're sort of like, please come in
and sit down

and have breakfast.

And it's like so surreal.

I just looked down at the table in
amazement because they'd laid it for us.

And they stood back, looking like
waiters in their masks.

She's got coffee, and I think there's
bread, and there's some cooked eggs,

height of luxury.

And I just found it so funny, I burst
out laughing.

And he just said, spies.

And he said, spies everywhere.

They hear you speaking.

So he realized it's okay. It's a million
dollars.

And I thought I'd quickly do some maths
in my head, I think.

Well, we're going to be here some time
if they want to get to that figure.

So after breakfast, this man came in.

The guys had masks on all the time.

Then, suddenly...

For us, this

felt more dangerous. We thought, oh, my
God, because he had told us before, if

we ever saw him, it would be death.

And he was looking at John.

And I was just shocked by this.

Gesture of trust.

Because that's how I perceived it.

That he was trusting me.

You like children?

We both like children.

I have a son.

How old is your son?

Five years.

What's his name?

Vasily.

Play football with him.

What? Play football with him. Ah.

And I'm sure if I'd met him in a non
-war zone, we'd quite easily become

good friends.

But in this scenario, it was really
quite bizarre relationship.

My son.

I don't see him much.

You know, we felt really lucky
because...

This man, he was treating us as humans.

We gave him a nickname. We called him
Guardian Angel, GA.

I like Manchester United.

I felt this kind of wave of love for
him, really.

And I think it comes through
understanding what he'd been through and

about his history.

Maybe it's just my nature.

There came a day I was sitting in the
kitchen with GA and we were just sitting

down having a cup of tea.

Suddenly GA held the bread knife to my
back and tried to kiss me.

No!

No, no!

He had this gun trained on me.

while I was mopping the floor.

And that was when I began shaking.

I thought, this man is so much more
traumatised than we had thought.

And because we had opened our hearts to
them and become friends, now we're going

to have to step back.

What's up?

There came a time when they started
getting very excited and saying, you're

going to be freed.

And we're thinking, well, it's only just
over a month, you know. It might be a

miracle, you never know.

I can remember really feeling this

sense of hope when we were blindfolded
and going along in the car.

I think we were holding hands all the
way.

I thought, it's coming. It's going to
happen soon.

You know, we'd be freed there and then.

Come on.

We were guided down these steps.

There was silence. This was all very,
very silent.

Quite quickly, I realised, oh my gosh,
we're back at the black hole.

Back at the cellar.

Oh shit.

I thought we'd seen the last at this
place.

I'm in the cellar and I can hear...

Johnny, Johnny.

Johnny.

He started this game of calling Johnny,
Johnny, Johnny, like in The Shining,

which was really horrible because then
you get that kind of sick, slimy

He's going to be playing games again.

I didn't know what to do then. I was
just kind of shocked and I just went

silent.

What's

happening?

What are we doing out there?

I could hear John being thumped in the
chest.

I really was in terror then.

And

I

kept on saying, this is the truth, and
I'd tell them over and over.

They wanted to hear that I was a spy.

I'm sort of seated.

So a hand's behind my back.

GA's got a knife.

And he's just shaking it in front of my
face.

Yeah, he pushed the tip of the blade
just in my throat here.

And pushed it. He never broke the skin,
but he just pushed so I could feel the

blade.

I felt strangely safe now in this
cellar, and it was a relief to be away

the craziness that I experienced
upstairs.

I really felt this strong love for
Camilla, and I felt, how could I

express that?

Leaping alive.

Yes, of course.

And it felt like we'd actually merged,
we'd become one.

And that, for me, gave me much more
strength and resolve to get through

this situation.

Where are you going?

He came in and he was ranting on about
something about we'd opened a packet of

tea.

And then he started saying something
like, you know, gesturing, like, I'm

to cut your ear off.

And

I

have a...

Horrible feeling that something not nice
is going to happen.

I tried to call several times and I

could just see those handcuffs were
really strong.

He took me by the arm and he pushed me
down on this bed.

No,

no.

John, John is my husband.

It

all

falls silent.

And then that silence.

hits me and a wave of nausea comes

over me and a wave of heat and a
realisation that Camilla's being raped.

I was praying hard that it would be over
quickly.

i remember just sort of thinking of my
mother and you know just telling him in

my mind that this is what's happened
i've been raped

I just sat with her and just allowed her
to cry.

And about five minutes later...

That

was one

of those powerless places of...

ever felt myself to be in it's total

disempowerment i

thought

what what's this what's this going on

Do you like to play backgammon, Johnny?

He's asking for me to go and play
backgammon with him.

Play.

Ten minutes earlier, he was raping my
partner, my wife.

And now he's asking me to play
backgammon with him.

And I thought, you crazy guy, you don't
know.

You don't get it.

I feel this hatred towards this guy.

And I'm shaking gently into the surface.

It's really difficult to hold the
revenge energy, that raw response

energy.

You don't like to smoke?

I know loads of thoughts rush through my
mind.

Relax, Johnny.

I felt at this point in time I could
actually overpower him, even though he

a big guy.

And I guess he's pretty stoned.

I have this rage inside that just wants
to reach out and hit him.

He will be okay.

Respect!

But there's this other part of me that,
hang on a minute, we've got to survive.

We've got to survive.

Both of us have got to survive this.

Of course, we hoped that would be...

Just the one time.

But it wasn't.

It was the darkest time for us.

They came down to the cellar and they
stood us up against

the wall and they had this... They will
sign and it said $2 million each.

Hello. Hi.

We're being well treated and well fed,
but please help us.

Please don't make it too much longer. I
don't know how long I can stay sane.

We've gone from $1 million to $4
million.

How on earth are our family or anybody
going to get to that level of ransom?

It was a 10 -day deadline, but on that,
like, $4 million being paid.

Later that night, they got some music
going.

Well, they were in a really good mood
because they thought that now a contact

would be made and the money would come
through and we'd be relieved.

And it was basically thrilled. Who would
come and picture us doing this now with

our... Be happy, darling.

The A decided he'd start doing a bit of
kung fu and showing me some kung fu.

Luckily, I managed to deflect or duck
away from most of them.

By this point, I just didn't know they
would kill us at the moment.

I just didn't know.

Well, two days passed, three days
passed, four, five.

Deadline came and went.

So by this stage, I decided that I
wasn't going to allow my hopes to be

just to be dashed again.

I sort of abandoned that whole concept.

just to safeguard my own sanity.

The temperatures outside started going
up and up and up and the temperature

inside started going up and up and up.

I thought I'd lose it a little bit with
the temperature. I just couldn't get

cool. I was just pouring wood sweat all
night.

It

was

the lowest.

I'd ever experienced, which is really
hard just to continue living.

What is it?

What do you want?

You want food?

Tell me what you want. A book?

Food? Tell me.

Come on, tell me.

I'll bring it to you.

You want a radio?

And I said, yes, I'll have a radio.

OK, radio, radio. Come down, I'll bring
you a radio.

OK? And not for a moment did I think
that I think that that radio would

manifest.

After a bit of twiddling with the knobs,
we eventually found the World Service.

And that was like having a hole punched
in the wall. It was this huge...

window put there instead.

I don't know how long I can stay sane.

Meanwhile, relatives can only hope and
wait. It was like, wow, that video is

there, out in the world.

It said that there were some officers
from Scotland Yard in the neighbouring

state investigating as best they could.

So we knew that the rest of the world
knew that we were still there.

So we were pretty excited about this.

And you try not to hope because, I mean,
it's hell to hope.

I mean, this was scary.

My heart was beating.

We

get moved

again at night, blindfolded, tied up.

It felt like there was just a huge
amount of people there, lots of armed

We were led out into a car.

I could feel this tension in my body and
this fear. Oh, my God,

you know, what's happening?

This was the most terrifying thing.

We didn't know if this was the day that
we were freed or the day that we were

killed.

We drove down this road.

I felt unknown.

And then I felt my blindfold being
untied.

And then he pointed to Camilla and
gestured that I took her blindfold off.

I wasn't quite sure where we were going,
you know. I thought, well, we're either

going to freedom or we're going to
execution.

Because they don't give a shit if we see
anything anymore.

The man in the front seat turned around.

You will be pleased to know we are now
leaving Chechen territory.

You are free.

I just had this wave of...

elation, excitement, euphoria, all at
once, all just swirled around.

This is it, we're on our way home.

We're on our way home.

There was a huge feeling of euphoria
then, the feeling of being alive,

feeling of being alive.

That was magical.

We made it all through that horrible
time, that torment, and

we made it and we got to this beautiful
place.

Camilla was walking down the aisle in a
beautiful dress and it was just,

oh, sublime is the only way I can
describe it.

It was a wonderful thing to bring
everyone together and for them to see

we're OK.

We had survived.

Kidnapped Abroad is back next Monday at
10pm and takes a look at an abduction

which takes place in India.

Next on 5, returning to the scene of the
crime in the action sequel Sniper 2

starring Tom Berringer.