Brothers' feud ends in alleged Caribbean kidnap (From Stroud News and Journal)

Brothers' feud ends in alleged Caribbean kidnap

A MILLIONAIRE'S son from Stroud is in a Barbados jail after allegedly recruiting a gang to kidnap and torture his own brother.

Magistrates on the tropical island heard how Arthur Watts, 40, and four accomplices wanted to force his brother John, 49, to sign over £300,000 from their late father's £6 million fortune.

Watts, of Mount Vernon, Butterow Hill, Stroud, is accused of hiring mercenaries from Gloucestershire to abduct John, who has a home on Barbados, and his Spanish girlfriend, 38-year-old Annaclaudia DiEnjoy.

Following a high-speed chase, the pair are said to have been bundled into a car at Church Village, St Philip, and taken to the Sunset Crest resort in western Barbados, where Mr Watts is alleged to have been put under intense pressure to sign documents altering his father's will.

But after being tipped off by a witness, police searched a house in the resort and arrested Watts, along with Jason Foster, 37, Damion (corr) Hensen, 31, Adam Hensen, 24 and Stuart Williams, 25.

The five are currently awaiting trial for kidnapping and wrongful concealment, which carries a 25-year sentence.

Watts was a familiar face in Stroud's Waitrose supermarket, often seen wearing a striking, long checked coat and green wellies.

One regular shopper, who asked not to be named, said: "He really stood out from the crowd. Although he looked casual and had unkempt hair, you could tell he had money.

"He just had that certain air about him."

His wife Jane told the SNJ she did not want to comment on the five-year feud, which she hoped to sort out within the family.

But a neighbour said: "This is a complete shock. It's like something out of a film."

Geoffrey Watts, a director of over 60 companies, died of leukaemia in 1995.

He left a fortune in shares to his four children, much of which was lost in the stock market crash following the terrorists attacks on September 11.

However, John is believed to have saved some of the money.

The accused are being held in a prison at the former US naval base of Harrison Point, St Lucy, because the island's only jail burned down.