Tiger kidnapping victim tells court of ordeal

A woman has told the trial of four men accused of carrying out a tiger kidnapping of the night she was taken hostage.

Marie Richardson was held captive in the Dublin Mountains with her two sons while the raid was carried out in March 2005.

After answering a knock at her door on the evening of March 14 2005, a masked man grabbed Richardson around the neck.

Two others burst in. One had a handgun; the other carried a machine gun.

They waited for her husband Paul to arrive back to their home in Raheny before taking her and her two sons to the Dublin Mountains.

Paul Richardson, a Securicor worker, was given photos of his family with guns to their heads.

During his rounds the following day, he was ordered to drop almost €2.3m outside a pub near Lucan.

Some time later, he received news that his family was safe and he collapsed on the side of a motorway.

Jason Kavanagh from Blanchardstown, Christopher Corcoran from Sutton, and Coolock natives Mark Farrelly and Alan Costello are on trial for the raid.

Both deny the charges.