A convicted kidnapper who kept 26 children and a school bus driver in a buried trailer has been granted his freedom – after the governor of California didn’t object to parole.

James Schoenfeld, 63, kidnapped the bus carrying the group then buried them alive in a chilling heist inspired by the film Dirty Harry.

Schoenfeld confessed to carrying out the 1976 crime with his brother Richard and his friend Fred Woods. MORE