Three men jailed for violent burglaries in rural county Limerick seven years ago have launched appeals against their convictions.

A couple whose family was held at gunpoint by raiders who broke into their home has called for a reform of the justice system following their captors’ sentencing.

Gardaí have discovered that a violent criminal gang, whose leaders are based in Ballyfermot, Dublin and Tipperary, hold detailed intelligence data on business people living in counties Cork, Tipperary and Limerick identified as potential burglary/tiger kidnap targets.

A Limerick man who was handcuffed while a sawn-off shotgun was put to his head as his teenage daughter watched in terror said yesterday his family would not move from their period country home.

Two members of a highly dangerous gang were being held by gardaí last night after a horror attack on a family during which a teenage girl watched as a sawn-off shotgun was put to the head of her father after he was handcuffed and knocked to the ground.