Two men have been convicted of involvement in an £85,000 'tiger kidnap' plot in Co Down nearly two years ago, by a Diplock (non-jury) court.
At the end of his 44-page judgement, Belfast Crown Court judge Mr Justice McClosket convicted Michael Clarke, 30, of robbery and Stephen Paul McStravick, 40, on two counts of false imprisonment.
Both Clarke, from the Upper Whiterock Road in Belfast and Co Down man McStravick - whose exact address was banned by the judge from being reported - were remanded into custody and will be sentenced next month after pre-sentence probation and victim impact reports have been compiled.
The trial, which started in January, made legal history as it is the first case to begin with a jury but finish being heard by a Diplock court.
In the course of three weeks of evidence, the court heard how five masked men, armed with a sawn-off shotgun and two handguns, took hostage the partner and young son of a Brinks Ireland employee from their Co Down home in the early hours of 28 May 2008.
The employee was handed several bin bags, told to go to his work the next day and fill them with cash. Chillingly, the gang also handed him a bullet and told him there were two more - one for his partner and one for his four-year-old son.
Evidence
Clarke was arrested after he was filmed by police collecting the bags of cash from a salt bin in the Dargan Road Industrial Estate while McStravick was linked to the offence by sandwich and sweet wrappers found in his wheelie bin which had been bought for the captive boy.
McStravick was acquitted of the robbery, Clarke found not guilty of false imprisonment and both men were cleared of charges of kidnapping the family.
Mr Justice McCloskey said evidence given by the employee was of how a pillow case was put over his head, he was slapped in the face and had the shotgun put to his head as the gang demanded to know about ATMs, routines, procedures and personnel.
He told his captors he did not know about anything of that nature and was accused of lying to them and was threatened with a handgun which he heard being cocked as a bullet was handed to him.
The gang instructed him to fill the bin bags with money and to drop it at a salt bin close to the Northern Bank on the Dargan Road and that when they got it, his family would be released.
As he left his house, he noticed that a member of the gang was using an abrasive cleaning agent to wipe down some areas and the following day, the employee drove to work but told his manager everything that had happened and the police were called.
His partner and son were taken to a house on the Ravenhill Road in east Belfast where they were held hostage overnight.
She gave evidence to the court that she was constantly told that if her partner "played the game no one would get hurt".
Arrested and interviewed, Clarke claimed he only got involved to pay off a £15,000 debt he owed to a gang and further claimed he did not know what he was collecting or anything of the matters behind it.
McStravick told officers the only thing he knew about the tiger kidnap was what he had heard on the news - but during his sixth and final interview, he claimed he had given a lift to a man who asked him to stop at the filling station but that he had no idea about the incident.
Turning to his conclusions, Mr Justice McCloskey said he was satisfied that both McStravick and Clarke had played "pivotal" roles in the highly organised and sophisticated plot.
In convicting the pair of their respective offences, the judge said he was not satisfied about their guilt in relation to the other offences with which they had been charged.
Lastly, Mr Justice McCloskey said it was clear the "primary perpetrators" were not before the court but said the courage of the victims on coming forward and giving evidence was to be "applauded".
© UTV News