THE WIFE of the Northern Bank manager who was forced to steal £26.5 million (€33 million) yesterday told how after being held hostage for over 24 hours, she lay face-down in a forest "waiting for a bullet in the back of the head".
Kyran McMullan was giving evidence at the Belfast Crown Court trial of Christopher Owen Ward (26) from Colinmill, Belfast, who is charged with robbing the bank and of holding Ms McMullan and her husband Kevin hostage.
He denies all charges.
Ms McMullan claimed that near the end of her ordeal, she heard one of her captors saying: "I can't wait until tomorrow. The republicans are going to get blamed for this. Ian Paisley will have plenty to say about it."
Earlier, she had told Mr Justice McLaughlin how a quiet Sunday night at her Loughinisland home turned in to a nightmare with the arrival of two bogus policemen.
Ms McMullan said that over the next 24 hours - during which she was bound, blindfolded and repeatedly threatened with guns and knives - she was driven to a house where she spent most of her time sitting on a chair.
At one stage she was offered tea and sandwiches. Breaking down, she said: "I was astounded that they thought I could sit down with them after they had taken me from my home and that I would want tea and sandwiches with them."
In the final few hours of her captivity, Ms McMullan said the kidnappers turned nasty. They told her they had got her once and could do so again. They said the next time "they would not be so nice and they would blow my f***ing head off".
About four minutes after they left her in the forest, Ms McMullan said she heard what she thought was a gunshot followed by an explosion "and that scared the life" out of her even more.
Despite it being pitch black, she stumbled her way to a nearby house where the occupant raised the alarm.
The trial continues today.