Gardaí investigating a €2.28m "tiger kidnapping" offered a place on the witness protection programme to one of the two men now accused of taking part in the robbery.

IT could have been the outline of a plot for a Mills & Boon fictional romance but one which bore more than a passing resemblance to reality.

A detective sergeant has revealed that a man on trial for a €2.28m "tiger kidnapping" robbery said one of his co-accused rang him on the morning of the crime.