Death threat against Quinn Holdings chief under investigation

The Garda and the PSNI are investigating a death threat sent to the chief executive of a company once owned by bankrupt businessman Seán Quinn.

Liam McCaffrey, who heads Quinn Industrial Holdings in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh, has been warned by the PSNI to review his security arrangements.

Similar threats have been made to other members of the company which bought some of Mr Quinn’s former manufacturing business in 2014 following the one-time billionaire’s financial problems.

Gardaí are investigating a handwritten message, accompanied by three bullets similar to those used in an AK47, left close to the premises last week. The note threatened employees at the Slieve Rushen wind farm formerly owned by the Quinn Group to stay away or "face the bullet", while a worker was recently threatened by a man carrying a rifle as attempts were made to block access to the site. Some £12,000 of damage was caused to a new lorry at the company's factories on the Ballyconnell Road in Cavan resulted.

Significant investment

Mr Quinn, who lost his multi-billion euro empire in 2010 following huge losses on significant investments in Anglo Irish Bank, is employed as a consultant at the company bought by a group of his supporters.

In a statement, a Quinn Industrial Holdings spokesman refused to comment further due to the ongoing investigation.

“Management at Quinn Industrial Holdings Limited would like to add that issues such as this will not distract us from our drive to ensure that the company continues the strong growth which we have demonstrated in the first year.”

The spokesman said almost new 100 people had been hired and a significant investment plan was being implemented at the company.

A spokeswoman for Concerned Irish Citizens, a cross-Border lobby group, said it wished to "unequivocally affirm that we do not condone any acts of vandalism, trespass, intimidation or indeed anything that disrupts the safety and rights of others."

The developments follow threats, intimidation and attacks that took hold of the former Quinn Group in recent years, including a fire bomb attack on a building near the company’s headquarters in Derrylin in 2011.