Husband not contacted over kidnap

GARDAÍ investigating the kidnapping of 41-year-old mother-of-three Helen Judge have not contacted her estranged husband, it emerged yesterday.

Haulier and businessman Liam Judge is living in Spain with a 27-year-old woman following the break-up of his marriage.

Girlfriend Tracy Gilligan is almost 20 years his junior.

She is also the daughter of crime boss John Gilligan, the man whose gang murdered journalist Veronica Guerin.

Gardaí know where Mr Judge is but have not decided whether they will contact him.

Gardaí said because the matter was a live investigation, with the health and safety of an ill woman at risk, it had to be handled sensitively.

A garda spokesman said Ms Judge had a non-life-threatening condition that required medication.

Detectives were also working with little information as to who may have kidnapped Ms Judge from her home in Allenwood, Co Kildare, on Sunday evening, and why.

Forensic examinations failed to uncover fingerprints.

Detectives were trying to draw up a list of possible suspects based on information from the family about disputes involving Helen and Liam Judge and other people.

The investigation team is headed by Assistant Commissioner Joe Egan, who is responsible for the National Support Services, which brings together specialist garda units including the

National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the National Drugs Unit, the Garda Technical Bureau and the Garda Air Support Unit.

Investigating officers were concerned at media speculation that the kidnappers might be a drugs gang and about alleged activities of Mr Judge.

They stressed that Mr Judge had no convictions and was not known to gardaí.

“The accusations are groundless and, moreover, they are unhelpful and a distraction from the investigation,” a source said.

The safe return of Ms Judge was of fundamental, and overriding, importance, a garda spokesman said.

Mr Judge ran a haulage company and other businesses in the area before becoming a driver for other haulage companies.

He is understood to working in the same line of business in Spain.

Gardaí declined to comment on the significance of Mr Judge’s relationship with Tracy Gilligan and cautioned others from doing so.

Ms Gilligan was in the news a few years ago when she took a court case seeking to overturn a decision by the Criminal Assets Bureau to stop her lone parent social welfare payment.

Ms Gilligan, who owns a house in Willsbrook View, Lucan, Co Dublin, lost her case. The CAB has also frozen sale of the property.

Detectives are focusing on the fact that three kidnappers have demanded a ransom of €200,000 for their hostage.

Gardaí accepted the figure was not a massive sum, but were slow to speculate as to its reason or significance.

Garda sources confirmed that garda policy was that ransoms should not be paid, but that they could not force families from so doing.

* Anyone with information is asked to contact Kildare Station at 045 522553 or the garda confidential line at 1800 666 111.