'I've been taken by a man... please hurry': British backpacker 'who was kidnapped in Australia is rescued after secretly sending texts to her FATHER back in the UK showing her location' 

  • Mary Kate Heys, 20, says she was kidnapped in Queensland, Australia
  • Claims she was able to escape after sending texts with her location to her father
  • Her father, in Manchester, called Australian police who tracked her through texts she sent with her Google maps location marked 

By Rebecca Taylor For Mailonline

Published: 13:58 EST, 12 December 2016 | Updated: 18:48 EST, 12 December 2016

Mary Kate Heys claimed she was kidnapped and driven more than 50 miles from her hostel in Queensland, Australia

A British backpacker has been rescued from an apparent kidnapping after she sent texts to her father showing her location on Google Maps. 

Mary Kate Heys, 20, from Manchester, said she was kidnapped from a hostel in Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, on Monday. 

Ms Heys claims she was taken by a man who was possibly mentally unstable, and driven more than 50 miles (80 kilometres) up the coast.

She told Queensland paper the Courier Mail, she had met a 22-year-old Swedish man in her accommodation and he woke her early on Monday morning 'in a manic state' to ask her to go to Brisbane with him. 

Fearing for his safety, she agreed and he then told her they would go as far as Cairns, to get 'away from the aliens'. 

Convincing him she needed to stop for a drink, the pair pulled over at a petrol station when Ms Heys told the woman at the counter the man she was with wouldn't let her leave.

Mary Kate said she went with the man because she had feared for his safety, but soon realised she needed help to get away from him

The 20-year-old was rescued by sending messages to her father who was at home in England, who called police in Australia

Ms Heys told her father to call the Australian police along with a pin-drop of her location 

She asked her to call the police but an hour later when they continued up the coast, resorted to sending texts to her father on the other side of the world.

The messages told him not to worry, but the 20-year-old said she knew it would be any parent's worst nightmare.

Her messages started: 'Dad, are you awake? I need you to call Australian police.' 

She then sent: 'I've been taken by a man... please hurry.' 

Her father called the police and she kept covertly sending him messages with her location so she could be tracked by police. 

Ms Heys said she was taken on a 55 mile journey during which she feared for her safety

Mary Kate Heys is currently in Australia and has been sharing pictures of her travels, including time at the beach, on Facebook and Instagram

Ms Heys did not press charges and the man involved was taken to a mental health unit in hospital

Ms Heys said she was being taken to Cairns and told her father he captor thought he was an alien

The police eventually honed in on their location and Ms Heys told her father she was safe 

Ms Heys did not want to press charges on her captor who is seeking mental health support 

A police car approached them 55 miles (88.5 kilometres) away from the hostel and Ms Heys said she just jumped out of the vehcile. 

'I didn't even wait for it to stop moving, I just ran out because I was so terrified,' she told the Courier Mail.  

A Queensland police spokesman told the Mirror: 'Basically what happened was they have gotten in a car down at the Sunshine Coast and they have driven up to Gympie.

'She has said that she was being held against her will. So it was a deprivation of liberty job. Police have then pulled the car over in Gympie.

'They have spoken to both parties involved. He was then taken to the hospital but I believe he did go to the mental health unit there.

'Then the woman has told police she did not want any further action taken on it. Basically, not press any charges.

'There is no further action from our end.'

The man is said to have been taken to a mental health hospital unit.

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