CELEBRITY hypnotist Uri Geller is backing efforts to find student hostage Paul Wells.

He hopes to pinpoint the whereabouts of Paul, 26, and the three other Western hostages being held in Kashmir by summoning the collective thoughts of thousands of people across the world.

Advertisements urging people to focus on the plight of the Blackburn student and his fellow captives at 11am on a date to be announced will be published in newspapers in India, Pakistan and Jammu Kashmir.

Paul's father Bob, of Bracken Close, Feniscowles, Blackburn, is currently searching for clues about his plight on a visit to the Indian sub-continent.

A spokeswoman for the Hostages In Kashmir Campaign said the star had been contacted with the backing of all the hostages' relatives and that it was being planned carefully to avoid it becoming "freak show".

She added: "The message of the campaign has always been to spare a thought for the hostages."

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