A Kent couple kidnapped by pirates in the Indian Ocean more than six months ago have appealed to Prime Minister David Cameron for help.

Paul and Rachel Chandler, from Tunbridge Wells, were captured last October near the Seychelles and say they have been treated like caged animals.

The Foreign Office has urged the captors to release the pair, held somewhere in Somalia.

Speaking in a video released to ITN, Mr Chandler said: "I would like to say thank you to David Cameron first and as new Prime Minister we desperately need him to make a definitive public statement of the Government’s attitude to us.

"This is absolutely not piracy, it mustn’t be reported as such. It is kidnapping and extortion and even torture for us."

Rachel said: "We are just animals to them, we have been kept caged up like animals they don’t care about our feelings and our family."