Man pleads guilty in collar bomb case

SYDNEY, March 8 (UPI) -- An Australian man pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of strapping a fake bomb around a teenage girl's neck and demanding money.

Paul Douglas Peters pleaded guilty in Sydney's Central Local Court to breaking into a house and holding Madeleine Pulver for ransom last August, the Melbourne Herald-Sun reported.

On August 3, Peters broke into Pulver's home in Mosman and strapped what he said was "powerful new technology plastic explosives" around the girl's neck.

Peters said any attempt to remove the device would result in it exploding. He then left the home, leaving behind an extortion note demanding a "defined sum."

Bomb experts found the device around Pulver's neck contained no explosives and the girl was freed after 10 hours.

Peters was tracked down through an e-mail address he left on the ransom note and was arrested two weeks later in Louisville, Ky.

Thursday, Peters, a former finance executive, polo player and an aspiring writer, gave no insight as to why he terrorized the girl, but his lawyer said he was "profoundly and sincerely sorry" for what he had done to the Pulver family.

Pulver's father said the family was happy with the outcome.

"We are very happy with the outcome. [Madeleine] is pleased, obviously. She is very relieved because she won't have to relive the whole thing by having to go through a trial," Bill Pulver said.

Peters is to be sentenced on March 16.