Abduction and robbery: Conor Lally describes the ordeal endured by a Securicor worker and his family. His wife and two sons were held overnight in a van in the Wicklow woods
Neighbours of the family kidnapped in Raheny, Dublin, saw at least one of the gang outside the house on Sunday night and heard screams and other noise but did not investigate.
One neighbour also saw the porch door of the house swinging open at 2am and lights on in the house.
The dramatic events of Sunday night and yesterday morning, which culminated in the robbery of more than €2 million, began when an armed and masked gang went to the home of a Securicor worker in the Ashcroft housing estate in Raheny.
Paul Richardson and his wife, Marie, both in their early 40s, were at home with their two sons, Ian (17) and Kevin (13), when the gang struck at about 10pm.
The gang members moved one of the family's two cars from the driveway which the Richardsons share with their immediate neighbours.
The gang then reversed their own vehicle, described as a large dark van, right up to the Richardsons' front door.
A neighbour saw one of the gang standing in the driveway at about 11pm guiding the driver of the van into the driveway. This man wore a black monkey hat but was not masked.
Around the same time at least one other neighbour heard noises, including a scream coming from the house. One woman from the estate said yesterday residents on the road who heard the noise dismissed it as "horseplay" between the two teenage boys.
One neighbour reported seeing the porch door of their house swinging open at 2am. The dark van was gone from the driveway at this point.
Gardaí said Ms Richardson and her sons were taken from the house and driven across the city by the gang. It understood the three were taken within a short period of the men reversing their van into the drive and that the men who took them had a number of firearms. At least five men were involved in the abduction and robbery.
Under cover of darkness neighbours would not have seen Ms Richardson and her sons being bundled into the back of the van.
They were held in the vehicle at Cloon Wood in Cruagh Forest, Co Wicklow, until yesterday morning.
Mr Richardson remained at his house in Raheny and in the morning was ordered by the gang to go to work as usual at Securicor's Rialto depot.
He was threatened that his family would be harmed if the alarm was raised or if he did not do as instructed. He was told to leave the Rialto depot with his two colleagues.
It is understood he then informed his colleagues what had happened and told them his family would be harmed if they did not take the van with the money to the designated meeting spot outside the Angler's Rest pub at the Strawberry Beds.
The three men took the van to the spot where gang members were waiting and the money was unloaded. The €2 million was passed to the gang through a hatch in the back of the van by one of the three-man Securicor crew.
This man was locked into the back of the vehicle as part of a safety feature used by most cash-in-transit security companies.
Mr Richardson and his colleagues were then instructed by the gang members to drive west. The men drove through Kinnegad, Co Westmeath, and continued around four miles out the Mullingar road.
It is understood Securicor alerted gardaí to the fact that the van was approaching the town. When gardaí met the men on the road the crew member locked into the back of the vehicle was not freed until a representative from Securicor head office travelled to unlock the van.
Mr Richardson was suffering from shock and taken for treatment to the Midlands Regional Hospital. He was later discharged. His two colleagues gave statements at Mullingar Garda station. Mr Richardson, anxious to be reunited with his wife and children, was driven back to Dublin.
He made a statement to detectives from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation last night.
Around the time Mr Richardson's ordeal ended, his wife and children were freed in Cloon Wood. They were spotted by a passing motorist who took them to Stepaside Garda station.
Members of the Garda Technical Bureau spent all of yesterday examining the Richardson home. The scene at Cloon Wood was also examined. The road around the Angler's Rest was closed for most of yesterday as gardaí examined the scene.
The investigation into the abduction and robbery is being led by Assistant Commissioner Martin Callinan of National Support Services at Garda Headquarters.
It involves a team of senior officers and detectives from Raheny, Stepaside and Mullingar Garda stations and the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation. An incident room has been set up in Santry Garda station.