Quick-thinking mother helps foil raid on home

A quick-thinking mother helped foil a violent kidnap plot as a traumatised businessman and his family were held hostage at gunpoint during a raid at their rural home.

Julien and Emma Flynn were tied up and their four young children restrained when five men stormed in to their Co Galway home armed with a shotgun and hatchet.

Mrs Flynn's two sisters came to their aid but were also held against their will at the house in Lackagh, near Turloughmore, last night.

Their mother, who had been chatting on the phone to her daughter Emma when the gang burst in, raised the alarm by first calling one of her daughters to call at the house and then alerting gardai.

Three of the raiders were arrested while two other men remain at large.

Mr Flynn appealed for privacy to get over the terrifying ordeal.

"It's been quite a traumatic night," said Mr Flynn.

"We are all fine thank God, everybody's fine. The guards were wonderful, they really were super and, thank God, we were very well looked after.

"Somebody in heaven thankfully was looking down on us."

The ordeal unfolded shortly after 8.45pm at a house next door to the family business a pub, grocery and hardware store - about 15km outside Galway city.

The couple were tied up with plastic cable ties while the children, aged from one to seven years, were detained.

But as two local gardai confronted the gang, a struggle broke out with the raiders as they attempted to escape with a small sum of cash.

An officer was hit with a hatchet, but was not seriously wounded.

One of the suspects was arrested at the house, a second man was arrested nearby a short time later, and a third man was detained after turning up in University College Hospital Galway seeking treatment for leg injuries.

He is under garda protection in the hospital and his condition is not known but his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

A garda spokesman said detectives and uniformed gardaí across Galway were searching for the two remaining gang members who fled the scene. It is believed they escaped in a dark coloured BMW car.

Galway Mayor Padraig Conneely said the family are traumatised after their ordeal.

"For somebody to come in to your house as your children are preparing for bed with guns and hatchets is absolutely horrendous," said Mr Conneely.

"Emma was talking to her mum and said there was some commotion going on in the house and put down the phone.

"Then the mum got suspicious and tried to ring back but there was no reply and she rang another sister and said there was a problem with Emma.

"The two sisters went up and they were also caught by the raiders who tied them up.

"But the mother got suspicious when she couldn't get through to them either and she rang the gardaí."

Mr Conneely said the Flynn's family business has been at the heart of the close-knit parish for years.

"They are an absolutely lovely family," he added.

"They are very well known and respected family and the parish is very upset."