Gang 'targets son of prison officer'

"DAD their going to kill me because of you". That was the chilling message kidnappers sent to a prison officer in Limerick after they abducted his son.

The attack on the 22-year-old, who was beaten after being bundled into a car on the Ennis Road early on Friday morning, is part of an ongoing campaign of intimidation against prison officers. It is believed the man was deliberately targeted because his father was a prison officer.

Eugene Dennehy, deputy general secretary of the Prison Officers' Association (POA), said during the abduction, the man's attackers rang his father using the youth's mobile phone.

"What makes this a very sinister situation is that they scrolled down through his phone until they came to his father's number and rang his home," he said.

"When his father answered the phone at 12.30am the caller, one of the criminal gang, said: 'Dad their going to kill me because of you.'"

Mr Dennehy said the father, a prison officer for 24 years, was distraught after the call and rang the gardaí.

His son, a chef at the Radisson Hotel, was abducted while waiting for a bus outside the hotel. A car carrying five men pulled up and bundled him into the car. He was beaten and robbed, before being dumped at Meelick, Co Clare, after midnight.

The youth made his way to a nearby pub and raised the alarm. He was taken to Limerick Hospital where his injuries were treated.

The 22-year-old's father was targeted in early 2002 during a spate of attacks on prison officers in the city. A hoax bomb was sent to his home and he was recently threatened while working in Limerick Prison.

A garda spokesman said they were investigating every aspect of the crime and were ruling nothing in or out.

The POA held a meeting with the Prison Service yesterday and have requested meetings with the Justice Minister and the Garda Commissioner.