A middle-aged man has appeared in Court charged with kidnapping a woman and her two children from their Horsforth home.

Peter Robert Hughes, of no fixed address, appeared at Leeds Magistrates Court yesterday and was remanded in custody for a week.

The 58-year-old is charged with kidnapping, robbery and possession of an imitation firearm in connection with an incident last Wednesday.

During the four-minute hearing the bespectacled defendant spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth and to state he had no address.

Malcolm Taylor, representing the Crown Prosecution Service, outlined the basic details of the case and asked for a remand in custody.

No plea was entered and Hughes' solicitor, Rob Rode, made no application for bail.

Magistrate Michael Mead-more remanded Hughes in custody until Tuesday, May 9 when he is due to appear again before Leeds magistrates.

Reporting restrictions were not lifted.

Businesswoman Marilyn Rowell, 46, her two children - Gabby, 11, and Gregory, eight - and family friend Dawn Birks, 39, were allegedly abducted by a man who had made an appointment to view her £250,000 house in Horsforth.

Undercover officers from Weetwood Police Station in Leeds arrested a man in the Inman pub on Lumb Lane, Manningham, on Friday night.

Detectives had earlier released the name and a photograph of a suspect they were looking for.

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