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January 21, 2005updated 22 Nov 2022 2:01pm

Bank raid insider talks to Irish News

By Press Gazette

By Dominic Ponsford
The Irish News scooped its rivals by carrying the
first newspaper interview with a man at the centre of the UK’s biggest
ever bank robbery.
Chris Ward, the Northern Bank official who was forced at gunpoint
to take part in the £26m raid, told reporter Barry McCaffrey how the
gang tricked their way into his home and threatened his family.
Ward revealed that he carried out a dummy run, bringing out a sports
bag packed with over £1m in cash, before cleaning out the vaults of the
bank with a colleague, whose wife had earlier been kidnapped.
Editor of the Belfast-based morning paper Noel Doran said: “Barry
McCaffrey has been on the inside track of this story from day one, and
he has come up with the interview everyone else wanted.
It was a good old-fashioned exclusive, based on hard work and first
class contacts, and his report has made a major impact.”

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