Gardaí in Monaghan say they have launched a major operation to find an armed gang that carried out an aggravated burglary at the home of one of Monaghan’s leading publicans at 10.15pm on Monday.
Paul Lavery was at work in his pub, the Poc Fada on the town’s North Road and his wife Cathy was in the house near Pipers Bridge, Tyholland, just a mile from the Border when the raiders forced their way into the house. Ms Lavery was in the home with her 15-year-old daughter and a school friend who were to babysit the family’s two-year-old daughter.
Although the gang ransacked almost every room in the house, it is understood that no cash or property was taken.