Student nurses stage ‘kidnap’ to raise money for Helen House hospice

Kidnapped at pistol point – John MacDonald with his masked captors, Rachel Desorgher, Nichola Dyson and Toity Deave

It looks like a serious crime is being committed, with a man having no chance at the hands of three armed, masked women.

In fact, the victim was John MacDonald, director of nurse education in Oxford^[1], and the criminal trio - Rachel Desorgher, Nichola Dyson and Toity Deave - were first year student nurses.

They had all hatched the plan in August 1981 to raise money for Helen House hospice.