Gareth O'Callaghan: We’re facing a fearful future if radicalisation is allowed fester

Unfortunately, Ireland still mostly basks in an illusory mindset that the Patty Hearsts of this world don’t exist here

American heiress Patty Hearst poses for a picture after she had joined the SLA, a small urban guerrilla group active in the US in the 1970s.

It’s 50 years since the FBI opened an investigation into one of the strangest cases ever to capture the imagination of a global audience.

On a cold Monday night in February 1974, there was a knock on the door of an upmarket apartment at Benvenue Street in Berkeley, California. A group of men and women carrying guns burst into the small hallway. Their target was a 19-year-old college student whom they dragged out and threw into the boot of their car, after beating up her fiancé who had opened the door. The gang then drove away at high speed.