A DEVOTED father, who postponed potentially life-saving medical treatment when Nigerian gunmen kidnapped his daughter, has died a month after her safe return.

Friends say that Michael Hill, whose three-year-old daughter Margaret was snatched by armed militants on her way to school last month, died suddenly of a suspected heart attack at his home in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, on Wednesday and fear the strain of his ordeal may have been responsible.

The 60-year-old oil worker was due to return to Murton, in County Durham next week for a reunion with his extended family - which would have been Margaret's first visit to the UK.

Mr Hill had been due home last month for treatment to a serious kidney problem the day after Margaret's kidnap, but cancelled his flight to stay at his family's side.

Mr Hill and wife Oluchi attracted worldwide sympathy during their five-day ordeal, during which Mr Hill offered to hand himself over to the kidnappers in exchange for his daughter's freedom.

A Foreign Office spokesman last night confirmed that he had died as a result of a medical condition.

Family friend Betty Blades, of Murton, said: "The family are all devastated and shocked by his death.

"He was waiting for his daughter's passport to come through so he could bring her to England for a holiday along with his wife. They were supposed to be coming this week."

Ms Blades said she had been told that Mr Hill had suffered a heart attack. She added: "I believe it was the stress of the kidnapping which was the cause, because he idolised his daughter."

The family have been living at an unknown location since being reunited with their daughter, who was freed unharmed by her kidnappers.

Mr Hill moved to Nigeria ten years ago where he worked as operations director for the US oil firm Lone Star, but continued to make regular visits back home to Murton to visit his sister, 64-year-old Catherine Longmoor.

He had already had first-hand experience of the violence which haunts the oil-rich Niger Delta area of the country when gunmen burst into the Goodfellas karaoke bar run by Mrs Hill and abducted seven foreign oil workers including two Britons.

Mr Hill also leaves a son from his first marriage, 33-year-old David Hill, of Sunderland.

Funeral details are yet to be arranged.