Man told to ‘get €50k or family would die’

A MAN on trial for trying to extort €50,000 from his father claims he was told to get the money after a drug deal went wrong, or he and his family would be killed.

Liam Ward, aged 32, of Rowan Heights, Drogheda, Co Louth, told gardaí he’d failed to pick up a car containing €50,000 cannabis outside a fast food restaurant in Dundalk and when the car disappeared, a dealer told him he would be shot for ripping him off.

Mullingar Circuit Court heard how he told gardaí he was taken to a house near Bettystown where he was assaulted, bound and gagged on February 13, 2007.