62 years for first tiger kidnap convictions
In the first conviction for a tiger kidnapping, Judge Tony Hunt said this type of crime was a “foul and repulsive cancer” which if not stopped would lead to a parent or child being “maimed or killed”.
He condemned the three kidnappers – Mark Farrelly, Jason Kavanagh and Christopher Corcoran – as “debauched” characters and “spineless men”, who had ripped apart the normal life of a decent family.
He sentenced Farrelly, 37, from Priorswood, Coolock, north Dublin, and Kavanagh, 34, from Ladyswell, west Dublin, to 25 years in jail each and Corcoran, 61, from Bayside, north Dublin, to 12 years’ imprisonment.
The three were part of a larger gang that broke into the Richardson home in Raheny, north Dublin, on March 13, 2005, brandishing a machine gun.
Marie Richardson and her two sons, then aged 13 and 17, were taken to remote locations, while Paul Richardson was forced to remove cash, totalling €2.28 million, from his Securicor van to ensure their release.
Sentencing, Judge Hunt said: “The kidnapping of women and children to play on the fears of fathers has no place in a civilised society. It is a foul and repulsive cancer.”
He said the kidnappers were not hitting the top echelons of banks, but striking into “the hearts and homes” of ordinary families.
He said no one in financial institutions could rest easy.
He warned: “If it continues unchecked an innocent parent or child is going to be maimed or killed.”
Judge Hunt said the three men had “irretrievably changed” Mr Richardson’s life for the worse.
He praised the gardaí and said “anarchy would undeniably reign” if these crimes were unchecked.
Mr Richardson described the four-year ordeal as a “nightmare” and said they had come to the end of a very long road. “At last we feel justice has been done. To all those other tiger kidnap victims we know exactly how you feel and we say don’t give up on the justice system.”
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