£26.5m robbers threatened to kill hostages

The IRA gang blamed for the £26.5m (€38m) Northern Bank robbery threatened to kill all their hostages, a victim revealed today.

At one stage a gun was held to the head of an employee before he was ordered to clear the vaults at its Belfast headquarters.

Supervisor Chris Ward, 23, told how the raiders conned their way into his home in the west of the city and issued a chilling warning.

“They said ‘Look Chris, we know everything about you and your family. We are going to take you away for 24 hours and if you co-operate everything will be okay. If not, you and your family are dead’.”

Mr Ward relived his terrifying ordeal as bank bosses agreed to relocate 40 staff members at the cash distribution centre amid fears the raiders have their personal details.

He was seized the night before the December 20 theft and taken to assistant manager Kevin McMullan’s house at Loughinisland, Co Down.

Both men were tied up by the gang who interrogated Mr McMullan – one of only nine people at the bank with security keys to the vaults – about security codes.

As their families were held captive, the pair were ordered to go into work on the Monday and follow strict instructions.

They were forced to load bundles of notes on to trolleys, cover them with rubbish then wheel them to a van outside where gang members waited.

Mobile phones were issued so they could keep in constant touch with the robbers.

Before the operation swung into action Mr McMullan had to send a messenger and three other employees home.

A sports bag was stuffed with £100 and £50 notes and brought in a trial run to a gang member waiting outside.

“He came up to me and said ‘All right Chris, have you got something for me for Christmas?”’ Mr Ward recalled.

“I just gave him the bag and he walked off.”

The pair were then sent back to load 24 green boxes of new money on to trolleys to be brought up to a loading bay.

“We had been ordered to phone the security staff to tell them that we were bringing rubbish to be collected by a delivery service company,” Mr Ward said.

Although the robbers never entered the bank, they brought a specially-adapted van to the dispatch doors for the boxes to be loaded on.

Mr Ward told The Irish News: “When the van arrived we were shocked when two of the gang got out dressed in the delivery service uniforms and fleeces. They were wearing hats and fleeces.”

Ministers in London and Dublin have backed Chief Constable Hugh Orde’s assessment of IRA involvement, which has effectively ended any chance of restoring the power-sharing executive in Belfast.

But with none of the missing millions yet recovered by police hunting the robbers, and no arrests made, republicans have categorically denied any involvement.

Anxious employees’ requests to be moved from the Northern’s HQ in the aftermath of the raid have also been met.

A spokesman said: “It’s for the welfare and safety of staff.”

Union representatives were involved in the negotiations leading up to the relocation decision.

Larry Broderick, general secretary of the Irish Bank Officials’ Association, said: “It is our main priority to ensure staff can carry out their work duties in a safe and secure environment and not to be living in fear for their and their families’ safety and health.”

Meanwhile, claims that more than £26.5m was stolen were rejected by the Northern Bank.

It is believed detectives investigating the robbery were told by Mr Ward the amount was significantly higher.

But the bank spokesman insisted: “We had a full forensic audit of the cash centre and it was independently audited by an outside body. The amount taken was £26.5m.”

Both families held by the gang responsible were later freed unharmed, but deeply traumatised.

Mr Ward also hit back at insinuations that he may have been part of the IRA team.

He said: “There have been stories that I am a Celtic supporter and that I am from west Belfast.

“They don’t say it directly, but there is an insinuation that because I am a west Belfast Catholic that I must have been part of the robbery. These stories have been deeply upsetting to my parents and my entire family.”