Major new book on kidnapping that led to killing of Moate soldier

Two national newspaper journalists have collaborated on a book that will outline the devastation caused to a local family by the killing of Private Patrick Kelly in Leitrim almost 40 years ago.

A married father of four who lived in Moate, Pte Kelly was just 36 years old when he was shot and killed during the rescue of kidnapped supermarket boss Don Tidey in Derrada Wood, outside Ballinamore.

Garda Gary Sheehan, from Carrickmacross in Monaghan, was also shot dead during the horrific incident which unfolded on December 16, 1983.

Now the full story of these events and their aftermath is to be told in The Kidnapping, written by Sunday Independent journalist Tommy Conlon and Irish Times journalist Ronan McGreevy. The book is being published by Penguin Sandycove and is due to be released next month.

Speaking to the Westmeath Independent, Mr Conlon said there would be dedicated chapters in the book about the Kelly family and the Sheehan family.

He and his co-author sat down with Pte Kelly's sons David, Michael, and Andrew for a lengthy interview last December.

"We were moved. We were struck by how they shared their 40 years of pain with us, and the damage it had done to their family unit, growing up without their Daddy," said Mr Conlon.

"The damage is forever. It might be 40 years ago, but they live with it to this day. It's not something that will be boxed away in the past for them.

"It can be for the rest of us, but for Private Patrick Kelly's family it goes on, as indeed it does for Gary Sheehan's family in Monaghan. We discussed the repercussions and the affect this violent tragedy had on both of them."

Mr Conlon is from Ballinamore, and although he was living in Dublin in December 1983, he was home for a visit on the weekend in which Pte Kelly and Garda Sheehan were killed.

At that stage, Don Tidey, who headed the Quinnsworth supermarket chain, had been detained for 23 days in a kidnapping that attracted widespread news coverage at the time.

Explaining how the idea for the book came about, he said: "Don Tidey was found and freed on Friday, December 16, and in the freeing of him Paddy Kelly and Garda Gary Sheehan were shot dead.

"The next day, I rambled down the town in Ballinamore because the place was crawling with soldiers, guards, press people and onlookers.

"As I recall it, that Saturday lunchtime, the bodies of Kelly and Sheehan were taken by ambulance out of the woods, through the town of Ballinamore, and on to, I think, Navan General Hospital, followed by Gardai and squad cars.

"I always remembered that scene. I can't say it haunted me. I promptly forgot about it. It dropped into the recesses of my mind for many, many years and it was only in the last couple of years that this memory came back to the surface again.

"It was a thought that kept recurring, randomly enough: What happened to Sheehan and Kelly? How did it come about? What was the story?

"I realised then that the 40th anniversary would be in December 2023, so I started doing a bit of research, and the more research I did the more interested I got. Then, this time last year, I got Ronan McGreevy on board.

"He's a friend of mine of long standing, a published historian and a journalist with The Irish Times.

It was too big of a project for one person, so the two of us knuckled down and started doing research."

In addition to Pte Kelly's sons, the authors spoke to "former comrades of his who were in the Army with him in Custume Barracks, Athlone, and who were on the search for the hostage."

"There was a national manhunt at first. It was the biggest combined operation between Gardai and Defence Forces in the history of the State."

Another Westmeath connection to the freeing of Don Tidey involved the late Donal (Donie) Kelleher, a retired Garda Sergeant who sadly died in February of this year.

Originally from Tralee, Mr Kelleher settled in the Midlands and lived in Rochfortbridge. A detective in December 1983, he was shot and injured in both legs during the freeing of Mr Tidey. He was honoured posthumously with the awarding of a Scott Medal that was accepted by his family at a ceremony in Dublin in May.

The Kidnapping was sent to the printers following a "fairly pressurised" deadline this summer.

"We were still working on the manuscript until the end of May, and during that period we managed to secure a series of interviews with Don Tidey," said Mr Conlon.

"He had previously been reluctant to talk about it. He hadn't talked about it in 40 years, but he decided he would, and he shared his story with us. This meant that, during the summer, we were still adding fresh material to the manuscript.

"Mr Tidey himself is now in his late 80s. He's hale and hearty, mind you, a very robust and impressive gentleman. It was the final piece of the jigsaw, really, speaking to Mr Tidey and him sharing his story with us."

He indicated that some of the most emotionally powerful material in the book relates to the Kelly family.

"The book will be powerful testimony to how the family suffered. I think that chapter will stand out for its emotional impact.

"Paddy Kelly did a number of tours of duty in Lebanon. By all accounts he was a very good soldier, and much-admired."

A launch event for the book is to be held in Dublin next month, and it's hoped that members of the Kelly family, and some of Pte Kelly's former Army comrades, will be in attendance.

* 'The Kidnapping: A hostage, a desperate manhunt and a bloody rescue that shocked Ireland' by Tommy Conlon and Ronan McGreevy will be in bookstores from October 26.