A 79-year-old Yorkshire millionaire kidnapped alongside his girlfriend for a £3.7million ransom in Ecuador feared they would have their fingers and ears chopped off. Self-made businessman Colin Armstrong, and his former model girlfriend Katherin Paola Santos, 31, were abducted from his home in the dead of night by 15 armed men.

For a terrifying four days, Mr Armstrong was held hostage and the kidnappers strapped a vest to Ms Paola Santos and told her it was a bomb they could detonate at any moment. Mr Armstrong, a former honorary consul to Ecuador, was naked when he was taken from his home in Guayaquil, a port city in the southwest of the country, and he and Ms Paola Santos were driven to a concrete cabin six hours away. The captors demanded a ransom of $5million (£3.7million) for the couple’s safe return.

"One of the habits these people have is removing fingers or ears. I had visions of them coming in and taking some fingers", Mr Armstrong told the BBC.

Ms Santos, who has been with Mr Armstrong for 10 years, was whisked away by the kidnappers who made her take a phone to Mr Armstrong’s son Nicholas to get him to speak to his dad.

After talking to his father, Nick informed the British ambassador and soon the President of Ecuador was aware of the case. After this, the kidnappers’ plans began to unravel and some of the gang were immediately arrested.

Mr Armstrong was still being held hostage in the cabin when he was passed another phone. "A man with a gravel voice told me he had given orders to kill me, after nine of his guys had been arrested. It was an extraordinary conversation," he added.

"In a moment of bravado, I said, 'what do you get from killing me? Instead of a charge of kidnapping it's a charge of murder,' and he just rang off."

While Mr Armstrong was held not knowing if a "hitman" was soon to enter the cabin to kill him, Ms Paola Santos waited nervously sitting on a tennis court outside his son’s home not knowing if what she thought was a bomb "could explode at any moment".

Ms Paola Santos, who is originally from Colombia, said "Colin had been her priority" during the couple’s horrendous experience.

He was released when he was dropped by the side of road by his kidnappers on December 19, four days after they were taken.

Mr Armstrong, who inherited the Tupgill Park estate, near Leyburn in the Yorkshire Dales, from his racehorse owner father, owns the Forbidden Corner and Saddle Room attraction in North Yorkshire and Ecuadorian agriculture firm Agripac.