A MAN has appeared in court accused of kidnapping a woman in York.

Marcus Paul Green, of Greyfriars, Manchester, was remanded in custody by York Magistrates yesterday (Friday).

He is now due to appear at York Crown Court next month, on September 23.

Green, 31, who was wearing a grey track suit, was charged with kidnapping a woman at St Hilda’s Mews, off Tang Hall Lane, in Tang Hall, on Thursday.

The charge stated that it was alleged that he ‘jointly and unlawfully and by force or fraud’ took away the woman against her will.

His solicitor, Nikki Mundy, who did not apply for bail during the brief three-minute hearing, indicated that the charge would be contested.

North Yorkshire Police said earlier that officers had launched a search for a woman following a report of a disturbance in the Tang Hall area in the early hours of Thursday.

A spokeswoman said that a woman was later found inside a vehicle in Leeds and was safe, and the investigation was continuing.

A property in Osbaldwick Lane, off Tang Hall Lane, was cordoned off by police on Thursday as part of a police investigation, with an officer standing guard on the pavement. It is understood the cordon was in place all day but it was removed by the evening.