BOYFRIEND ACCUSED IN TIGER RAID; Woman was intended 'victim' of five-man gang, court told.

Byline: GEORGE JACKSON

ONE of five men arrested during a foiled kidnap plot had a girlfriend among the intended victims, a court heard yesterday.

Ruairi Larkin was among those arrested after a police surveillance operation saw two cars tailed fromWest Belfast to the scene of the alleged abduction in Magherafelt, Co Derry.

Larkin, 24, from Magherafelt, Colm Meli, 27, from Kilkeel Road, Annalong, Brendan Lillis, 58, from Belfast, Terence Lunney, 26, from Nansen Street, Belfast and Richard Manson, 32, from Sherbey Crescent, Annalong, were arrested when police foiled the alleged kidnap of three members of the same family.

Derry Magistrates' Court heard how Larkin was in the alleged victims' home on Friday of last week when he sent a text message to co-defendant Manson saying: "In the house now, I will text when they are all in bed."

A police witness said that because of Larkin's relationship with one member of the household, he had "gathered a large amount of personal information about the family".

The five men were remanded in custody when they appeared at the Magistrate's Court in Derry charged with conspiring to kidnap, falsely imprison and rob the three people at their home in Aughrim Road, Magherafelt, in the early hours of last Friday.

After his arrest, Larkin allegedly told the police he was "acting under duress".

Refusing bail, District Judge Barney McElholm, said the case against the defendants was that "they acted in a pre-meditated and carefully planned fashion and I accept that but for police intelligence they may well have succeeded".

Lillis, Lunney and Manson are further charged with possessing a firearm or imitation firearm.

CAPTION(S):

SCENE Police at the house in Magerafelt