Bank manager told 'sister dead'

Mr Ward denies the charges against him

A bank manager has described how he was told a family member had been killed before he and his wife were kidnapped.

Kevin McMullan was giving evidence at the trial of Chris Ward who is accused of the £26.5 Northern Bank robbery in December 2004.

Mr McMullan said on the night before the robbery, two men dressed as police officers called at his home and told him a family member had been killed.

He described nearly fainting as he wrongly assumed his sister had died.

They told him he had to identify the body of a family member killed in a car crash in Holywood, County Down.

He said he went into the house and grabbed for a mantle piece at his home to steady himself, but was grabbed from behind, forced to the ground and had a gun put to the back of his head.

Mr McMullan's wife, Kyran, was similarly attacked as their 25-hour ordeal began. He was told that if anything went wrong his wife would be shot in the head.

Mrs McMullan was due to be cross-examined on Tuesday, but after an emotional time in the witness box on Monday as she described her own ordeal, a defence barrister said he did not "wish to contribute further to this lady's distress".

Chris Ward, 26, of Colinmill, Poleglass, denies taking part in the multi-million robbery at the Belfast headquarters of the Northern Bank.

The case continues.