[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21291356

A missing Irish property developer has been found wandering, lost and emaciated on a country road, eight months after he disappeared.

Kevin McGeever, 68, is recovering in hospital in Mullingar, County Westmeath.

He was found barefoot, ragged and with an abusive word carved into his head.

He was dishevelled with a long beard and very long fingernails and had lost a lot of weight. In the Irish boom years, he sold luxury homes in Dubai.

He was reported missing to police in Galway in June last year.

Mr McGeever was found by a couple on a country road near Ballinamore in County Leitrim on Tuesday night.

Sinn Féin Councillor Martin Kenny from Ballinamore, who knows the couple who found the man, said they had been driving home from Enniskillen when they came upon him on the road.

"They noticed something on the road and, at first, they thought it was a traffic cone, but he was wearing red trousers," he said.

"He looked dishevelled. He did not know what county he was in, what day it was, what month it was. They noticed he had no shoes."

Cllr Kenny said the man told the couple that some men had dropped him off in a van and he had been a long time in that van.

"They went to the local garda station and they got him tea and biscuits. He gobbled up the biscuits as he was ravenous so they got him some curry chips. They discovered he had been missing for the past eight months and that he was in fact an international high flyer. He was well spoken, intelligent and well educated."

Cllr Kenny said Mr McGeever was taken to hospital suffering from malnutrition and dehydration.

Irish broadcaster RTE's crime correspondent Paul Reynolds said Mr McGeever told gardai he had been kidnapped from his home by a masked gang eight months ago but he could not recall what happened to him after that.

"He told gardai he was abducted by three masked men from the garden of his home in Craughwell in County Galway. That is a mansion of a home. He said the kidnappers had demanded a ransom for his safe release but he did not know whether a ransom had been paid," Mr Reynolds said.

"He was feeble and thin when found, as well as the weight loss he had a long beard and very long fingernails. He also had markings on his forehead which had been cut into him with a knife. A word was carved into his forehead which purports to say something about him."

Intriguing .....

[Mrluvaluva]

The "word" was apparently "thief". Seems like he was possibly abducted and held against his will. Another report I read said he was thrown from a van, rather than "dropped off".

[Omah]

You're right :

A businessman who went missing for eight months has told police he was kidnapped and tortured by Russian gangsters.

Kevin Michael McGeever, a property developer, had the word ‘thief’ carved into his forehead and was kept in a 'darkened container' because he owed money to both Russian gangsters and the IRA, he said.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz2JgKevtz0

[Ammi]

An Irish property developer has been found wandering along a country road in a confused state eight months after he went missing - apparently with an insult scrawled across his head.

Multimillionaire Kevin McGeever, 68, was injured, had a long beard, long fingernails and had lost a lot of weight when he was picked up near Ballinamore, on the border of County Leitrim and County Cavan.

He had been reported missing in June last year from County Galway in the west of Ireland, about 100 miles from where he was found.

Catherine Vallely - who claims to have found Mr McGeever - told Irish newspapers that she initially thought he was a traffic cone when she and her husband came across him in the dark because he was wearing red trousers.

She described him as "very well educated, well-spoken and polite".

Mrs Vallely told the Irish Examiner: "I was surprised. I thought he might have Alzheimer's or something like that. The man said his name was Kevin and he didn't realise he was in Co Leitrim. He didn't even know the month, the day or the time."

As well as his dishevelled clothing, he was wearing no shoes.

They say they took him to a local police station where he was given tea and biscuits.

Mr McGeever has been interviewed and given a statement to officers, claiming that he was kidnapped at gunpoint. His attackers also reportedly wrote insults on his face.

Irish police have said there is no question that Mr McGeever was held for an extended period of months based on his appearance.

He was treated for dehydration and malnutrition at hospital, where he is still recovering.

Before the economic downturn, Mr McGeever sold luxury homes to expats in Dubai.

He made a fortune building houses, first in his native county and then further afield, before making big investments abroad. He fronted a company called KMM Commercial Properties.

The developer lives in a gated mansion outside the village of Craughwell near Galway city, built on the back of his fortune.

Martin Kenny, a Sinn Fein councillor who knows the couple who claim to have found Mr McGeever, told Sky News: "He was quite a high flying businessman, in international business and it's quite unusual that he would go missing but there didn't seem to be a huge scale search for him or anything like that.

"The only thing he did tell them was that a number of men had dropped him off there along the road and that he had been taken quite a long way."

Police have confirmed they are investigating whether he had been abducted, but refused to comment further about his condition.

A Garda spokesman said: "We are investigating reports that an injured man, in his late 60s, was found at the side of the road at 9.45pm on January 29.

"He was taken to Mullingar Hospital for treatment. We are investigating allegations that he was abducted from Craughwell."


http://uk.news.yahoo.com/mystery-iri...195044344.html


...well, whoever it was, it sounds as though he really upset them....

[Kizzy]

Russian gansters AND the IRA? wow he is one lucky man to be alive.

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

Russian gansters AND the IRA? wow he is one lucky man to be alive.

That's what I was thinking too.

This is such a weird story, I'm surprised at how little coverage it's gotten over here

[Z]

Very strange!

[Stu]

Meh. Most people from the wesht are like that.

[Niamh.]

[Niamh.]

The story gets weirder...........



PROPERTY developer Kevin McGeever did not leave any forwarding address for gardai when he was discharged from hospital yesterday.


The Mayo-born businessman had been undergoing treatment at the Midlands Regional Hospital in Mullingar since he was found wandering a rural road outside Ballinamore, Co Leitrim, almost a fortnight ago.

He told gardai he had been held captive for the previous months by kidnappers, who demanded a ransom for his release. But since then he has been unable to supply any details about his captivity, why he was abducted or by whom.

One garda officer said last night: "He left the hospital and did not indicate to us where he was going. We will continue with our inquiries but have no idea where he intends to stay in the short term.

"But I am sure we can track him down if we need to talk to him again."

Mr McGeever (68) gave a statement to gardai at Ballinamore after he was taken there by a couple who had found him on the roadside, and also spoke to investigating officers from Gort while in the hospital.

But gardai acknowledge they have made little progress in solving the mystery of his whereabouts since he says he was abducted by three armed men from the garden of his mansion home in Craughwell, Co Galway, last May.

He was reported missing by his partner the following month at Gort station. Gardai say that as far as they are aware no ransom was handed over prior to his release.

Relatives of Mr McGeever last night expressed their surprise that he had been discharged from hospital. His family, who live in Foxford, Co Mayo, said they were unaware he was due to be discharged.

"We have been in the UK for the past five days and had no idea that he was getting out," said one family member.

A former business associate said he believed Mr McGeever would not return to his Galway mansion, which has not been lived in for some time.

"I'd imagine he'll go to Dublin. The house is not even liveable, none of the rooms is finished. But that place will be full of unhappy memories from workers picketing outside demanding they get paid," he said.
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news...-29064645.html

[Omah]

He's gone to ground .....

[Nedusa]

Sounds like the plot of a Will Smith film where he plays one set of baddies off against the other and comes out alive at the end with no loose ties...!!!!

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Nedusa

Sounds like the plot of a Will Smith film where he plays one set of baddies off against the other and comes out alive at the end with no loose ties...!!!!

..I wonder if maybe there will be a movie made out of it, the whole story is so weird..

[Ammi]

An Irish property developer who alleged he was kidnapped and held captive for eight months made up the extraordinary story, it has been claimed.

Kevin McGeever reportedly came clean after being arrested on suspicion of wasting gardai time on Thursday.

The former tycoon from Mayo - who was emaciated and disorientated when found wandering a roadside barefoot - said he made up the elaborate tale to escape financial pressure.

Garda sources said the 68-year-old caved under questioning, according to the Sunday Independent. The newspaper reported that the cash-strapped McGeever admitted to staging his kidnapping and subsequent release to keep investors off his back.

His plan went awry when the couple who found him wandering the Cavan-Leitrim border on January 29 insisted on bringing him to a garda station, which led to a full-scale investigation.

McGeever, who had lost about five stone, claimed he had been abducted at gunpoint from his gated mansion in May last year.

The businessman had the word "thief" inked on his forehead when he was found. His beard had grown out and his finger nails had not been cut for months.

He has since admitted that the eight-month ruse was an attempt to get breathing space from people hounding him for cash. He also hoped they would leave him alone following his emergence from the alleged captivity for fear they might become suspects in the "abduction".

According to the Sunday Independent, McGeever said he lived in self-imposed exile in a remote part of the west of Ireland.

He was quizzed for 24 hours at Gort garda station but was released without charge on Friday night. A garda spokesman said a file was now being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions

[Kizzy]

What?... no IRA?... No russian gangsters?...

[lostalex]

Originally Posted by Ammi

..I wonder if maybe there will be a movie made out of it, the whole story is so weird..

Don't think so, all of the drama was in his own head. the real story is pretty boring.

[Patrick]