Suspected dissident republicans held over family’s armed hostage ordeal

SUSPECTED dissident Republicans were in custody last night after a millionaire businessman was tied up and pistol-whipped, while his pregnant wife was held at gunpoint in what gardaí believe was an extortion bid attempt.

Two armed men burst into the couple's €600,000 house in the exclusive Cork suburb of Mount Oval, Rochestown, on Monday night. They held six-month pregnant Katie O'Donovan at gunpoint, while her four children Rebecca, Sam, Sophie and Jody aged two to six, lay asleep.

The men then waited for her husband, Gary, who owns a chain of off-licences and a pub, to return home from work. When he arrived they bundled him inside. A struggle ensued and he was smashed over the head with a revolver.