Free son’s killers to save kidnap girls

THE mum of a Royton man murdered by Nigerian militants in 2012 believes his killers should be freed to assist in the safe return of hundreds of kidnapped schoolgirls.

Christopher McManus (28) was taken hostage by Boko Haram in May 2011, while working as an engineer in Sokoto, Nigeria. Chris and fellow captive Franco Lamolinara were shot as UK special forces attempted a rescue mission.

The killers are now in prison, but Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan has ruled out negotiations on an exchange of the imprisoned Boko Haram members for the 276 girls snatched from a school in northern Nigeria a month ago.

Chris’s mother, Laura McManus, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I can hear Christopher telling me what use are they in prison if they could be saving somebody’s life?’. I think some form of dialogue should be considered so more atrocities don’t happen and people don’t die.”

She expressed her sympathies for the families of the kidnapped girls: “We had no idea at all how Christopher was being held, where he was being held, how he was being treated. It was indescribably awful and my heart bleeds for the families of these poor girls. It’s an extremely scary place to be.”