In the early 1980s, there was a series of kidnap-for-ransom crimes committed in the Republic by the Provisional IRA in order to raise funds to finance their organisation and its terrorist operations here and in the UK.
One of the victims of these abductions was prominent businessman, Don Tidey, and Englishman who was the senior executive of the Quinnsworth group of supermarkets. Tidey was held for 23 days in Derrada wood, Co Leitrim. He as rescued by the gardai and the army, but a garda probationer and an army private were killed during the operation.
Though a number of people were charged in relation to the kidnap, no one has ever been charged in relation to the two killings.
********
Thanks to our sponsors for today’s episode:
Get 10% off your first three months of vitamins at ritual.com/mens
Sign up for professional online counselling at betterhelp.com/mens and get 10% off your first month!
Try the casual mobile puzzle game Best Fiends today! Find it on the Apple App store and Google Play!
********
Find us on Facebook or Twitter!
With thanks to our supporters on Patreon! Donate today to get access to bonus and ad-free episodes!
********
Theme Music:
Quinn’s Song: The Dance Begins Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Additional Music: Allemande (Sting) by Wahneta Meixsell. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
********
Sources:
Offences Against the State Act, 1939. Find it here: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1939/act/13/enacted/en/print#sec36
Vannini, Marco & Detotto, Claudio & Mccannon, Bryan.. “Ransom Kidnapping.” in (eds) Jurgen Georg Backhaus Encyclopedia of Law and Economics (Springer, 2015) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273574256_Ransom_Kidnapping
Reporting from Peter Murtagh, Niall Kiely and Jim Cusack for The Irish Times
Jim Cusack and Basil Miller, “Maze escapers and gun shipment seized by Dutch” in The Irish Times (17 January 1986) p. 1.
“Go ahead given for kidnap trial” from BBC NEWS http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6161347.stm (8 December 2006)
“Republican will face kidnap trial” from BBC NEWS http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4782270.stm (7 March 2006)
Vivion Kilfeather, “Supreme Court clears way for McFarlene kidnap trial” in The Irish Examiner (6 March 2008) https://archive.is/20120616060609/http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2008/03/06/story57024.asp#selection-1701.1-1701.348
“McFarlene launches second judicial review” from RTE.ie https://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0515/76265-mcfarlaneb/ (15 May 2006)
“McFarlene trial opens today” from TodayFM.com https://web.archive.org/web/20110717065409/http://news.todayfm.com/story.asp?sid=15262 (11 June 2008)
“Maze escaper kidnap case collapse” from BBC NEWS http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7475724.stm (26 June 2008)
“Maze escapee Bik McFarlene wins Irish government damages” from BBC NEWS https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-11259072 (10 September 2010)
“IRA may have got money from insurance firm” in The Irish Times (25 February 1985) p. 8.
Ella Shanahan, “Noonan calls for ban on kidnap insurance” in The Irish Times (19 July 1985) p. 1.
Padraig Yeates, “Swiss bank ordered to disclose IRA fund details” in The Irish Times (21 November 1985) p. 1.
Sean Flynn, “Store group 'paid £2m to IRA'” in The Irish Times (2 December 1985) p 8.
Conor O'Clery, “No evidence on Tidey extortion allegation – Scott” in The Irish Times (16 December 1985) p. 6.
Conor O'Clery, “No proof of IRA payment, MP told” in The Irish Times (20 December 1985) p. 9.
Jim Cusack, “Paying off the IRA not to kill and kidnap” in The Irish Times ( 16 March 1990) p. 13.
Niall Kiely, “No official knowledge of ransom pay-out” in The Irish Times (20 February 1985) p. 9.
Ireland's Most Shocking Crimes – The Kidnapping of Don Tidey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP1hpT01nrI
Scannal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y294tqcSVQk
Today Tonight 16 Dec 1983 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKY-BM3MG6U
Wikis:
John Joe McGirl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Joe_McGirl
Special Criminal Court https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Criminal_Court
Brendan McFarlene https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_McFarlane
For a full list of sources, please see our website www.mensreapod.com
