Groom remembers night he was kidnapped with beloved charge

The hunt for a stolen national treasure became a circus, but the quiet memories of a devoted groom are more revealing, finds Caroline O’Doherty

SMALL details stick in Jim Fitzgerald’s mind from the night he and Shergar were kidnapped.

He had just returned to the head groom’s house in the grounds of Ballymany Stud at about 8.30pm after checking the horses one last time as he always did before settling down for the night when there was a loud knock on the door.