Who kidnapped Bernie's mother-in-law?

Portuguese national Faria, was named as leader of a gang of seven involved in the caper and is currently imprisoned in Brazil for the kidnap, but he insists he is innocent and intends to appeal the sentence.

He was well known to Flosi and regular pilot to sports stars including Ayrton Senna, Lewis Hamilton, Pele, Michael ­Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.

The 55-year-old pilot points a finger at Ecclestone's new family as the culprits and told the Daily Mirror, "I believe Fabiana and her family were behind it. The whole kidnapping, nor the evidence, has ever made any sense."

In a nutshell, on 22 July 2016 Ecclestone's 69-year-old mother-in-law Schunck was abducted and held for nine days before being released, with €124-million ransom demanded by the kidnappers who threatened to decapitate her if demands were not met. The ransom was not paid as police intervened in time.

Faria, who worked with and knows Ecclestone's 41-year-old wife Flosi, has always insisted he had nothing to do with the kidnap and told the Mirror during his first interview since being sentenced, "There is no doubt in my mind who was behind it all. When you look at the evidence none of it adds up."

“This gang who were supposed to be ruthless men capable of killing acted more like genteel guys. There were no guns. She was driven to the chemist before being taken to the house to pick up a prescription.

“Her captors brought her whatever food she wanted, even McDonald’s. They kept her in a complex where people came and went. Why didn’t she scream?"

"The neighbours say they saw her sweeping the floor. It’s hardly the actions of a dangerous gang," argued Faria who also claims that after that the 16 police officers who saved Schunck were bought homes, while 11 of them were treated to a VIP day at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Faria continued, “When the first ransom email was sent to Fabiana she was in Hungary. It asked for three ­helicopters to deliver the ransom."

“The kidnappers used a Portuguese phrase for the helicopters call sign which because I am Portuguese she thought it must have been me. She knew I’d have previously been accused of taking a helicopter without consent, which was not true, but she began pointing the finger at me."

“Before news had broken of the kidnapping I had received a message on Facebook, on the Saturday morning, asking if I knew anything about it."

“I hadn’t heard a thing. How would they know I knew the family, I kept asking myself? I contacted Fernanda [Fabiana’s sister] to tell her and asked if I should go to the police. She said she hadn’t heard and told me not to say anything. It didn’t make sense."

“According to my lawyers, the mother-in-law sent an email to Fabiana when she was at the Hungarian Grand Prix on the Friday telling her she had been kidnapped and she shouldn’t involve the police. The email was sent an hour and a half before she was actually taken.”

“I know two sides of Fabiana. I classed her as a friend. Her sister invited me to her wedding. Before she married she was humble. Once she became rich, she thought she could buy anything she wanted. The turning point came when Fabiana took her dog to the UK."

“I flew her to the airport where she was due to catch a private jet. She left her baggage on the helicopter to get her ­passport checked. One of her bags began barking. I realised she had her dog inside, her Yorkshire terrier. I told Fabiana it was wrong."

"She didn’t like being challenged, and after that I never worked for her again,” added the pilot.

Ecclestone scoffed at Faria's theory, "The police have gone through all these things, and it's clear he's talking complete rubbish."

"He did this for money, €124-million (up from the €32-million which we reported to be the ransom demand at the time of the incident) and as I've said before many times, no one's going to give that much for a mother-in-law."

"[He] is trying everything he can to get out. You can't blame the guy. He's done everything he can to be freed, or to be moved to another prison. There's no doubt in my mind she was kidnapped."

“The police did a first-class job. There hadn’t been many ­kidnappings there for an awfully long time. I was very, very impressed. It gave me a lot of confidence in Brazil."

While Faria seeks to prove his innocence from a jail cell, Schunck is reportedly suffering the after-effects of the ordeal.

"She has to have people around all the time," explained Ecclestone of his mother-in-law. "Something ­triggers her memory and all of a sudden she remembers everything. She comes to see us. She’s walking around, happy, then all of a sudden it hits her and she gets depressed."

Schunck was released by her captors nine days after her abduction in Sao Paulo, having sent voice messages during her captivity which including one with her screaming: “Do something. Please pay them, or they will kill me.”

Prior to the saga, Ecclestone had met Faria when the pilot flew the F1 supremo to Interlagos during a grand prix weekend, “He seemed such a straightforward and nice enough guy. I couldn’t believe it was him early on. He’s going to do ­whatever he can to get out. If he gets out, he will go straight to Portugal."

https://www.grandprix247.com/2016/08/02/no-ransom-paid-in-ecclestone-mother-in-law-kidnap-rescue/