KIDNAP victim Mrs Jennifer Guinness has criticised the authorities for failing to inform her that one of her kidnappers escaped from a low security jail on Monday.
Mrs Guinness, who is chairwoman of Victim Support, said she should have been informed by an official of the escape of John Cunningham. She heard of the incident through the media.
"One of the things that Victim Support is working towards is the right of the victim to be informed of any change in sentence, early release, escape or when the prisoner is due out," she said.
"There has to be a system where, if something like this happens, the victim is informed. It's not as if you want to stop people being released early or anything. But it's much better to know about it rather than run the risk of meeting them on the street."
Mrs Guinness said that Cunningham's escape did not cause her any distress because she had already put the 1986 kidnapping incident behind her.
"I regard it as history. It's not my concern or something that I think about. I've walked away from it."
She said the decision by the authorities to place Cunningham in a low security open prison was not her concern either. "I presume that after 10 years he is no longer a threat to me," she said.
Mrs Guinness was kidnapped from her home in Howth, Co Dublin, by an armed and masked gang who demanded a £2 million ransom from her husband, the late banker, Mr John Guinness.
She was held for eight days at four different locations in Dublin before she was released after a five hour Garda siege at a house in Waterloo Road. There was intense media coverage of the incident and the subsequent trials of four men.
John Cunningham, from Kingswood Heights, Tallaght, was sentenced to 17 years after pleading guilty to falsely imprisoning Mrs Guinness.
His brother, Michael (47), from Clondalkin, received a 14 year sentence for the same offence. He was released from Portlaoise prison earlier this year.
Brian McNicholl, a native of Derry, of Waterloo Road, Ballsbridge, received a 12 year sentence for his part in the affair, and Anthony Kelly, Kingswood Drive, Tallaght, was sentenced to 14 years.
Mrs Guinness has received letters from Cunningham's wife and mother. Cunningham's child, born three days after his capture, was named Jennifer after Mrs Guinness.