Yemisi Izuora/Agency Report
A British optician who travelled to Nigeria as a missionary has been killed after being taken hostage. Ian Squire was seized with three other British Christians undertaking medical work three weeks ago. David Donovan, a Cambridgeshire GP, his wife Shirley, both 57, and Alanna Carson, an optician aged 23, were freed. It is not known how Dr Squire, also 57, was killed but there were reports in Nigeria of an attempted rescue.
He ran his own practice in Shepperton, Surrey, and founded the Mission for Vision charity in 2003. Monica Chard, a friend, said: “He was a lovely, quiet man who everyone knew and loved as the village optician. He went out to Africa every year with the charity, and his wife was also involved. He just wanted to help people see who otherwise would not have had any help. His widow must be devastated.”
Dr Squire, who had two adult sons, provided training and eye equipment for clinics in several African countries and had made 13 trips for the charity. He was credited with the invention of a portable solar-powered frame and lens cutting machine to enable people to make prescription glasses in remote regions.
On his first visit to Nigeria in 2013 he teamed up with the Donovans’ New Foundations health charity. Ms Carson, from Ballymoney, Co Antrim, worked at Specsavers in Leven, Fife.
Tom McGuire, 69, a pastor and friend of the Donovans, said they had survived a previous kidnapping attempt. He said: “It is fantastic news that they are free after several weeks of being in limbo. They are such a lovely, kind-hearted couple and so many people have been praying for them.
“It is quite dangerous there, the main danger is the kidnappings. But they weren’t bothered by the danger. They just loved to see the people getting healed. A gang previously made an attempt to kidnap them using big power boats in the area, which is full of water.”
The families of the released hostages said in a statement that they had received support from the British High Commission in Nigeria and help from the Nigerian authorities in securing their release. “We are delighted and relieved that Alanna, David and Shirley have returned home safely,” they said. “Our thoughts are now with the family and friends of Ian as we come to terms with his sad death.”
The hostages were snatched from their beds in a small village in the Niger Delta on October 13 by an armed gang travelling by boat. It is not known at what stage Dr Squire died, but kidnapping in the Delta state is almost entirely aimed at obtaining ransom and it is highly unusual for hostages to be killed.
Tarila Marclint Ebiede, a Nigerian peace and security researcher at the University of Leuven in Belgium, said that as the four were not working in the oil industry and had no kidnap insurance this may have contributed to the case being mishandled.
The Britons were said to have been kidnapped by a little-known group called the Karowe, but there were fears they might be sold on to a bigger militant group. A Nigerian source who has previously negotiated hostage releases said the recovery of the four had been bungled. “At the time of the kidnap there was no indication anyone had been killed,” he said. “I know the man behind this group, they were doing it for pecuniary reasons. Even without a ransom he would have been open to talks. I don’t believe the guy wanted to kill.”