Four men go on trial accused of membership of Tiger kidnap gang

Four Dublin men have gone on trial, accused of being part of an armed gang which carried out a “Tiger kidnapping” on a family eight years ago.

The men are alleged to have kidnapped the family of Paul Richardson, a cash in transit van driver, and forced him to deliver a van loaded with €2.28m.

Jason Kavanagh, aged 39, of Corduff Avenue, Blanchardstown; Christopher Corcoran, aged 66, of Bayside Boulevard North, Sutton; Mark Farrelly, aged 42, of Moatview Court, Priorswood, Coolock; and Alan Costello, aged 50, of Cromcastle Rd, Coolock, pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to five charges each.

These charges are the false imprisonment of Mr Richardson at Ashcroft, Raheny, Dublin, and of Marie, Ian, and Kevin Richardson on Mar 13 and 14, 2005, and the robbery of €2.28, in cash from Mr Richardson and Securicor Security Services Ireland Ltd.

Opening the prosecution case, Dominic McGinn SC said that, on the night in question, men dressed in boiler suits burst into the Richardson home and held the family at gunpoint.

The men took a Polaroid photograph of the family sitting on a sofa flanked by two armed gang members and gave it to Mr Richardson to give to work colleagues.

They then drove Mr Richardson’s wife and two sons in a 4x4 vehicle into the Dublin mountains and held them overnight.

Mr Richardson was told to go to work the next day and load a van with cash. He was told to drive it to a car park west of the city and leave the cash there.

He carried out these instructions, then continued to drive west and waited for a call from the gang to say his family were OK. That call never came and Mr Richardson became increasingly anxious and began to have chest pains.

His colleagues then raised the alarm. Mr Richardson was taken to hospital and gardaí said his family had been released.

Mr McGinn told the jury the kidnapping and robbery were unlikely to be disputed during the trial, but that it must decide if the accused men were members of the gang who carried them out.

The trial continues before a jury of nine men and three women and Judge Martin Nolan and is expected to run for 11 weeks.

Judge Nolan warned the jurors that they could be held in contempt of court if they were found to have searched the internet or any other source for information about the alleged offences.