Email Used To Track 'Collar Bomb' Suspect

The man accused of putting a fake bomb around an Australian teenager's neck was arrested after leaving an email address on the ransom note.

Suspect Paul Douglas Peters was arrested in Kentucky in the US earlier this week after police followed a trail of clues in a case which victim Madeleine Pulver herself has described as "surreal".

The 18-year-old schoolgirl was studying at home when a masked man carrying a baseball bat broke in, attached the bomb-like device and left a list of demands.

She sat for 10 hours with the device chained to her as bomb squad technicians dismantled it.

Mr Peters is a 50-year-old Australian businessman with a background in finance. He was arrested by the FBI at his ex-wife's house in Louisville.

According to US court documents, prosecutors say police traced the source of an internet address found on the ransom note.

The address, dirkstraun1840@gmail.com, is believed to be a reference to the fictional character in a novel called Tai Pan by James Clavell. It tells the tale of a 19th century criminal.

It is claimed the Gmail account was set up at Chicago airport in May, and travel documents obtained from immigration authorities allegedly show Mr Peters was at the airport that day.

Then, on the afternoon of the attack, the account was accessed three times, once from a library up the coast from Sydney, and twice from a video store where customers can use computers to browse the internet.

CCTV footage from those premises showed the same man was present in each location, having driven there each time in a Range Rover.

Police found the car's records and the driver's details. The court heard immigration officials then told police that Mr Peters had flown out of Australia on August 8 for Chicago.

Detectives flew out to the US and worked with FBI colleagues to track him down to Louisville where he was arrested .

New South Wales Police are now applying for Mr Peter's extradition, a process which could take some weeks.

His lawyer, Scott Cox, said his client told him he is innocent and will contest the charges in Australia. What ties Paul Peters has to the wealthy Pulver family still remain unclear.