Spoofer Kevin tells detectives: 'I made the kidnap story up'
SPOOFING tycoon Kevin McGeever has confessed his bizarre kidnap ordeal story was a HOAX. The Sunday World can reveal that the 68-year-old has told gardai he invented the tall tale to lie low from furious creditors who were chasing him for payments.
The Co Galway property developer spent months hiding out in the west of Ireland before 're-appearing' looking dishevelled in January. The story of his 'kidnap ordeal' made international headlines but today we can reveal that he made the whole thing up.
He came clean after being arrested and questioned over wasting police time. The senior garda investigating the kidnap complaint, Superintendent Pat Murray, said yesterday: "We are happy we have solved the mystery and we are happy that no crime has occurred."
Hoax
PALATIAL: Kevin McGeever’s massive house
THE SPOOFER property developer who claimed he was abducted and held against his will for eight months has admitted that he made the whole story up. The Sunday World can reveal that Kevin McGeever has finally confessed and told gardai that there was no truth to his claims that the IRA had kidnapped him and demanded a €10m ransom.
The 68-year-old was held for 24 hours in Gort Garda station in Co Galway this week, but two hours before he was due to be released, he cracked and confessed to detectives that severe money problems made him concoct the bizarre kidnap story.
The head of the investigation into McGeever, Superintendent Pat Murray, said yesterday: "Following the arrest of Kevin Michael McGeever, we are very happy we have solved the mystery around the allegations and we are happy that no crime has occurred."
McGeever held his hands up and admitted that he had been staying in a remote cottage in the west of Ireland for eight months and paid mystery people to bring him food and other supplies. While trying to come up with a solution to his money problems, he decided to make up the kidnap story and went to great lengths to appear credible, growing his hair and nails and eventually fasting practically 24 hours a day.
Investigators
The Walter Mitty character also told officers that he scraped the word 'thief' in to his own forehead in a bid to convince investigators that his story was credible. McGeever turned up on a remote country road in Ballinamore, Co Leitrim, on January 29 in a confused and distressed state. He had lost a lot of weight and his forehead looked mutilated. He was rushed to hospital and when quizzed by gardai, he claimed the IRA had abducted him, later changing his story to say the Russian mob was responsible, then claiming he had no idea who took him or why.
However, he has now admitted that he naively thought that if gardai thought he had been kidnapped, it would save him from a large group of creditors to whom he owes millions of euro because of failed investments. The Mayo-born property developer swindled dozens of investors out of millions of euro and took money for properties in Dubai that didn't even exist.
From the very beginning, gardai believed that he was telling a pack of lies because they had pinged McGeever's mobile phone to a number of locations in both Ireland and the UK. Gardai had hoped to charge him with wasting police time before he was released but the DPP requested that a full file be sent to them. He faces a possible five-year sentence if convicted of time-wasting.
It can also be revealed that authorities in Dubai have contacted gardai to inform them that they will be soon sending an international arrest warrant in a bid to extradite the failed developer to be quizzed about a series of fraud complaints in the Middle Eastern country. It is unclear if the courts here will allow the extradition because of the severe penalties allowed under Dubai law.
Kevin McGeever was released from Gort garda station on Friday night and has since gone to ground.The man who picked him up became agitated yesterday when confronted about his pal. 'Faith healer' Robert Heavey threatened to "bust" our reporter when he was approached and asked about the whereabouts of McGeever.
We walked up to him as he left his large detached home near Timahoe in Co Meath yesterday morning and identified ourselves. The faith-healer-turnedfarmer snarled and shouted to "get off my property now or I will get you off it".
When we continued to ask questions he added: "If you don't get out of here now I will bust ya, just watch me".
McGeever has given Robert Heavey's house as the address where he is staying and sources say that McGeever has been there since he emerged in late January. It is understood that he rarely, if ever, ventures outside and travelled to his multi-million euro mansion in Craughwell, Co. Galway on Thursday after making a prior arrangement with gardai that he would be arrested there.
After his release, an undercover Sunday World team followed McGeever and Heavey to Heavey's home. Following Heavey's angry outburst, he later calmed down and admitted that he had picked his friend up and said that McGeever was doing very well but was staying in Dublin. He said he would tell McGeever we were looking to talk to him.
Quizzed
Gardai are also investigating a man who had claimed that he saw McGeever being abducted last May.The man, from Caragh, Co Kildare, is expected to be quizzed and could also be facing charges of wasting police time. Sources close to the investigation said that when McGeever arrived at Gort garda station he insisted he was telling the truth and spoke in great detail for several hours. With two hours to go before he had to be released gardai put, the mobile phone evidence to him and the 68-year-old broke down and told them everything.
Gort garda station was where McGeever's partner, Siobhan O'Callaghan initially reported him missing last June, a month after he disappeared. On January 29, he was found wandering barefoot in Ballinamore and told gardai that he had been taken at gunpoint from 'Nirvana', his €3m mansion in Craughwell.
