Manager forced to play part under threat

THE assistant manager of the Northern Bank cash centre in Belfast was threatened at gunpoint and forced to play a key part in the robbery of £26.5million on December 20, 2004.

Kevin McMullan was the assistant manager and keyholder of the cash centre at Donegall Square West, Belfast, in December 2004.

“I was at home on the night of December 19, 2004, with my wife, Karen. A car came into the driveway of the house late in the evening. A man dressed as a police officer knocked at the door and asked me to confirm that I was Kevin McMullan.

“He said my sister had been killed and I was being asked to identify the body.

“This man followed me in. Other members of what turned out to be a gang took control of my wife, myself and my home. A gun was put to the back of my head, also to my wife’s head. We were both tied up ...

“They then led her away from the house. Two men stayed in the house with me. They went through a plan to be followed out the next day. If I didn’t comply fully or if anything went wrong my wife would be killed.

“I was told I was to go to work. I had no choice because of the threat made against my wife. I feared these men would carry out the threat ... They said, ‘We’ll shoot her in the head, we will damage her beyond repair’, and that I would be killed,” Mr McMullan testified in Cork.

He said he went to the vault, sent staff home and got £26.5m for the gang.