Guinness Kidnaping Victim Released After Police Besiege House

Gunmen released Jennifer Guinness early today after holding her captive for one week and surrendered to police who had laid siege to a house where the kidnapers had holed up, police said.

“I was treated very well and I am very, very happy,” the 48-year-old socialite and banker’s wife said as she was driven away from the house in a police car.

She had been taken from her home at gunpoint on April 8 and held by a gang that demanded a $2.5 million ransom.

Two men who had held Guinness in the house for most of the night were driven away in separate cars by police officers. Earlier, police captured a third member of the gang as he tried to escape when they surrounded the two-story building.

Burst of Gunfire

Police said there was a burst of gunfire as they arrived at the house in the Ballsbridge area, where many foreign delegations to the Irish Republic maintain their embassies.

Earlier, Guinness reportedly had appeared at a window of the house and indicated that she was unharmed.

The apparent break in the case, after eight days of silence from the kidnapers, followed a tip to police, who 24 hours earlier had raided a house in the nearby Rathfarnham district and found evidence that Guinness had been held there for several days.

Three masked gunmen kidnaped Guinness, the British-born wife of banker John Guinness, from the family home at Howth, a millionaire’s enclave on a promontory overlooking Dublin Bay. Police said they pistol-whipped her husband, who tried to intercede.

Guinness is also a member of one of Ireland’s richest dynasties. The family’s interests include the publishing of the best-selling Guinness Book of Records.

Ready to Offer Reward

The Guinness family was reported to be ready to offer a reward of $65,000 for information leading to her rescue.

Police earlier had discounted suspicions that the kidnaping was staged by a paramilitary group, such as the outlawed Irish Republican Army seeking funds to finance its guerrilla war.