Siege victim Carthy may have left house for cigarettes, says sister in book

ABBEYLARA siege victim John Carthy may have left his house to look for cigarettes when he was shot four times by armed garda officers, his sister says in a new book published yesterday.

The ERU team felt threatened by the manic depressive after he suddenly emerged from his house with his loaded shotgun after a 25-hour siege in April 2000.

The 27-year-old labourer and chain-smoker had already fired 30 shots — once hitting a garda car — during the tense stand-off in the Co Longford village.