BANK KIDNAP CASE:TWO MEN have been jailed for 25 years and another man for 12 years for terrorising a family in a kidnapping during the robbery of a security cash delivery.
In sentencing at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Tony Hunt termed the men “inhuman monsters” for kidnapping the cash van driver’s family while he delivered €2.28 million to them.
Mark Farrelly (37), of Moatview Court, Priorswood; and Jason Kavanagh (34), of Parslickstown Court, Ladyswell, both Dublin, were jailed for 25 years each.
Christopher Corcoran (61), of Bayside Boulevard North, who the judge said was “one league removed from the other men”, was jailed for 12 years.
In a lengthy speech, Judge Hunt paid tribute to the Richardson family for enduring their ordeal and the subsequent trial, which was the longest criminal trial in Irish legal history. “These are examples of the best type of people in our society, in contrast to the spineless criminals who carried out this crime,” he said.
He congratulated them, particularly Marie Richardson, for her “character and bravery” in supporting her family during and after the raid.
The judge commented on the recent spate of so-called tiger kidnappings, calling them a “foul and repulsive cancer. And like any such disease, when it is located it must be aggressively treated.”
He said he believed the cash from these robberies is being used as “seed capital” for the importation of large amounts of drugs or guns for criminal gangs. He also noted the robbers did not target senior bank officials “who may be responsible for some of our financial woes”, but ordinary families.
He expressed concern that this was another case where “pay as you go” phones, not registered to their owners, were used.
The evidence showed a large amount of phone traffic between the men as they carried out the operation. He said the phones were then disposed of in a “deliberate and determined manner”, except for Corcoran’s, which was later found by gardaí in his home.
The three men had denied robbing €2.28 million from Paul Richardson and Securicor, and had also pleaded not guilty to falsely imprisoning members of the Richardson family – Marie Richardson and her sons, Ian (then 17) and Kevin (then 13) – on March 13th and 14th, 2005.
The maximum sentence for the offence is life imprisonment. Judge Hunt said the raid warranted slightly less, but if the men had used their weapons, or been any more violent, he would have had no hesitation in imposing the full term.
He said he based the sentences on 11 factors, including the “almost military planning” of the raid and the “violent degradation by the inhuman monsters who forced their way in there that night”. He also took into account that once the gang had got the money they did not call Mr Richardson, as promised, to tell him his family was safe.