0:00:02 > 0:00:04Tonight on Spotlight...
0:00:04 > 0:00:07the first television interview with a former IRA gunman
0:00:07 > 0:00:10who made millions in property,
0:00:10 > 0:00:13now bankrupt, denounced for building a death-trap
0:00:13 > 0:00:16that left hundreds of people homeless.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20But he says he is the victim and he is certainly not sorry.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23We are getting to the level of the gutter media.
0:00:23 > 0:00:24What would I apologise for?
0:00:43 > 0:00:47Back in September, workmen fixing up this house on one of Dublin's
0:00:47 > 0:00:51most prestigious roads made an incredible discovery.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54200,000 euro stashed under a bath.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59Thousands of 50 euro notes had been stuffed into bags
0:00:59 > 0:01:02and hidden behind a bath panel on the ground floor.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06The authorities believed the money belonged to this man -
0:01:06 > 0:01:09the former owner of the house, Tom McFeely.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11Once an IRA hunger striker,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14after prison, he made a fortune on the property market.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19But he is now bankrupt, evicted from his former mansion,
0:01:19 > 0:01:22and he has been accused of hiding much more money than this
0:01:22 > 0:01:24from everyone he owes.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28A lot of money was found in your house.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31Around 200 grand. Where did it come from?
0:01:31 > 0:01:33Don't ask me. You may ask the people who put it there.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36All I can tell you is that it is not my money.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39Do you think for one moment I left money behind me
0:01:39 > 0:01:40and I forgot about it?
0:01:40 > 0:01:43That even if the house was full of five, or six, or eight, or ten
0:01:43 > 0:01:48security men, that I wouldn't have went in and took it out again?
0:01:48 > 0:01:52That money matters, because it lay hidden at a time
0:01:52 > 0:01:55when Tom McFeely owed millions -
0:01:55 > 0:01:57much of that debt springing from
0:01:57 > 0:02:01notoriously substandard building projects.
0:02:01 > 0:02:03It was my money, he took it from me.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05Was he in a position to pay it back?
0:02:05 > 0:02:08Absolutely. Absolutely. There is no doubt about that.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12We have learned that even his former bank thinks
0:02:12 > 0:02:16he has hidden assets, but he says he is being persecuted
0:02:16 > 0:02:19by Dublin's elite simply because he was in the IRA
0:02:19 > 0:02:22and because he is from Northern Ireland.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25I don't have anything at all.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28Not even a bank account, not a penny, not anything.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31- Does he still have money? - I believe he does.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33I believe it is very well hidden.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37I have discovered evidence that, as his Irish empire was collapsing,
0:02:37 > 0:02:41Tom McFeely was paid millions of pounds in London...
0:02:42 > 0:02:45..money traced back to Northern Ireland
0:02:45 > 0:02:47that has now disappeared offshore.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Take the camera out of my face, friend. Camera out of my face.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53Pursued by the media,
0:02:53 > 0:02:56hunted in the courts and now in disgrace,
0:02:56 > 0:03:00Tom McFeely has been dodging the cameras for years.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02But I have been meeting him on and off camera
0:03:02 > 0:03:04over recent months.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06This is his only television interview,
0:03:06 > 0:03:10giving his account of his rise and spectacular fall -
0:03:10 > 0:03:14Provo, property mogul and now national pariah.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30Tom McFeely is the son of a cattle dealer,
0:03:30 > 0:03:34born into a family of 13 in Foreglen, near Dungiven.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38When the Troubles began, he was working as a bricklayer in London.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42He came home and became a committed gunman and bomber.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48I am not one to sit down and deny
0:03:48 > 0:03:50that I wasn't in the IRA,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53or that I didn't do anything.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Of course I done to the best of my ability at the time.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58In hindsight, yes, I could have been better.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01You could have been better?
0:04:01 > 0:04:03Using the word better in the context of the IRA...
0:04:03 > 0:04:05I could have been more efficient, yes.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07What does more efficient mean in the terms of the IRA?
0:04:07 > 0:04:10I could have done more than I done.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12'It is difficult to see how.'
0:04:12 > 0:04:15Tom McFeely was caught with a bomb,
0:04:15 > 0:04:17escaped and was recaptured with guns.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22In 1974, he blasted out of Portlaoise Prison,
0:04:22 > 0:04:24and spent two years on the run.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30He was caught again after a robbery and armed siege near Greysteel.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35Like many IRA members of the time, at his trial,
0:04:35 > 0:04:39he refused to recognise the court, because it was British.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42Sentencing him to 26 years, the judge called him
0:04:42 > 0:04:47"a dangerous, intelligent and vicious young man".
0:04:47 > 0:04:49Do you regret any of the actions you carried out?
0:04:49 > 0:04:52No. Why would I? If I was going to regret it, I wouldn't have done it.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55Some people, with the passage of time, come to another view.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58Why would...? If you come to another view in the passage of time,
0:04:58 > 0:05:00then it was wrong do it in the first place.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02I don't believe it was wrong.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07I regret being in a position that I would have to do it, yes.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11I wish I hadn't had to have done it. Do I regret it? No.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14Tom McFeely spent 12 years in the Maze Prison.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17It was there that he first met another IRA member,
0:05:17 > 0:05:19Anthony McIntyre.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23He was a serious senior IRA figure
0:05:23 > 0:05:25within the prison.
0:05:25 > 0:05:30I met him in 1982 and developed a strong relationship with him,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33a strong personal friendship with him.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37He was very intelligent, very courageous,
0:05:37 > 0:05:40he probably was the most fearless individual
0:05:40 > 0:05:42that I had ever met in my life.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45McFeely was at the forefront of the IRA in jail.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Among the first to refuse to wear prison uniform,
0:05:48 > 0:05:52he spent almost four years on the blanket and dirty protests,
0:05:52 > 0:05:57then joined the IRA's first hunger strike in 1980.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00- REPORTER:- Seven Republican prisoners began a hunger strike.
0:06:00 > 0:06:05They say it can be ended only by the granting of their demands, or death.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Tom McFeely refused food for nearly eight weeks
0:06:08 > 0:06:11but the Republican leadership called off the protest.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13You know, the saying, "It's not those who can inflict the most,
0:06:13 > 0:06:15"but those who can endure the most."
0:06:15 > 0:06:19To be quite honest, I would rather inflict it than endure it.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28When he was released in 1989, Tom McFeely left home
0:06:28 > 0:06:30and went back to the building trade.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34His destination was Dublin,
0:06:34 > 0:06:37and during the Celtic Tiger's building boom,
0:06:37 > 0:06:40everything he touched appeared to turn to gold.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44When I went to Dublin, I put the same determination into succeeding
0:06:44 > 0:06:46as I done to everything in my life.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48He formed an unlikely partnership
0:06:48 > 0:06:51with polo-playing Dubliner Larry O'Mahony.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55Their first major development was this west Dublin hotel.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59They also turned a nearby car park into tens of millions of euro,
0:06:59 > 0:07:03described as one of the shrewdest property deals of the Celtic Tiger.
0:07:03 > 0:07:09At one point, Tom McFeely was worth an estimated 320 million euro.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11I had a sort of pride in Tom.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13Because I had seen him at the bottom of the pile
0:07:13 > 0:07:16in the prison, from the point of view of the prison administration
0:07:16 > 0:07:19beating him and the torment that he went through,
0:07:19 > 0:07:21and then, in some way, he rose to the top.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23But that was his game.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25Tom could master things that he set his mind to.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29The former IRA prisoner, now a multimillionaire,
0:07:29 > 0:07:31didn't forget his friends from jail.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34I phoned him one day as a last resort,
0:07:34 > 0:07:37because I didn't want to work in building, and I said,
0:07:37 > 0:07:39"Tom, have you any work?"
0:07:39 > 0:07:41and his response was, "Yeah, come down,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44"nobody from the H Blocks will ever be refused a job."
0:07:44 > 0:07:48So, without doubt, he seen an old friend right.
0:07:48 > 0:07:53He was exceptionally generous, I thought.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57Because he could have easily said there'd be no work, but he didn't.
0:07:57 > 0:08:0212 years after leaving prison, Tom McFeely was able to splash out
0:08:02 > 0:08:08the equivalent of £3 million on a new home, a former embassy.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11This is one of the most sought-after addresses in Dublin.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14If you've got a house here, you can count among your neighbours
0:08:14 > 0:08:17developers, ambassadors, financiers, judges -
0:08:17 > 0:08:20even a former Taoiseach has called it home.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23So, when Tom McFeely bought his house here,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26what he was saying was - "he had arrived".
0:08:26 > 0:08:29Not bad for a former IRA hunger striker.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34The house contained an etching by Picasso,
0:08:34 > 0:08:38and, according to McFeely, real gold leaf on the ceiling.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42Quite a turnaround from a man who once belonged to the
0:08:42 > 0:08:44League of Communist Republicans.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47He says that beneath those wealthy trappings,
0:08:47 > 0:08:49he was still a committed socialist.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51- Do you still have...? - I still have them.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55I would still... If tomorrow we could implement some
0:08:55 > 0:08:58sort of socialist republic in Ireland,
0:08:58 > 0:09:00I would be in the front of it.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03I would be in the vanguard of it. I would have no problem...
0:09:03 > 0:09:05Anything and everything I have,
0:09:05 > 0:09:07I would put my shoulder to the wheel, yes.
0:09:07 > 0:09:12'But Tom McFeely's attitude to sharing his wealth only went so far.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16'One person who wasn't getting his proper share was the Irish taxman.'
0:09:16 > 0:09:20Why did you have to be chased for eight million euro,
0:09:20 > 0:09:21nine million euro nearly?
0:09:24 > 0:09:27Why did I have to be chased from the taxman?
0:09:31 > 0:09:32I think...
0:09:36 > 0:09:42I don't know anybody at all... that would avoid paying tax
0:09:42 > 0:09:44if they could get away with it.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48I think I paid, since I was went to the Free State, 67 million of tax.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51This a capitalist system we are living in
0:09:51 > 0:09:55and everybody takes everything they can get. That is nature of it.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58But Tom McFeely got into more trouble
0:09:58 > 0:10:00than run-ins with the taxman.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03Huge failings at his developments were exposed
0:10:03 > 0:10:07when Ireland's building boom turned to bust.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12This empty shell of apartments in Dundalk
0:10:12 > 0:10:16was built by Tom McFeely's company six years ago.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19Now it has been gutted by vandals.
0:10:20 > 0:10:25The reason it is empty is that it had to be evacuated.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28It had failed a string of fire safety checks
0:10:28 > 0:10:32that should have stopped anyone living here in the first place.
0:10:32 > 0:10:37But when tenants started moving in, Dundalk's fire chief was alarmed.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42In September 2009,
0:10:42 > 0:10:44I became aware that the premises,
0:10:44 > 0:10:4620 units, were occupied
0:10:46 > 0:10:48and still the work hadn't been done,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51so I was really concerned at that point. It was very bad.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54It was so bad that we immediately decided to serve a closure notice,
0:10:54 > 0:10:56which is the most severe thing we can do
0:10:56 > 0:10:58in terms of enforcements of fire safety requirements.
0:10:58 > 0:11:0320 tenants evacuated in 2009 at your Dundalk development?
0:11:03 > 0:11:04- Yep.- What was that about?
0:11:06 > 0:11:11It was about the car park, smoke in the car park.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13If there was a fire in the car park...
0:11:13 > 0:11:17they said there wasn't enough extraction in the car park.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20- Do you consider that serious?- No.
0:11:20 > 0:11:26It could be rectified by the simple measure of cutting a hole
0:11:26 > 0:11:31in the wall of the car park, which allowed the air to come through.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33That proposed solution would certainly not
0:11:33 > 0:11:34have made the building safe.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37It wouldn't even have dealt with one of our requirements.
0:11:37 > 0:11:42Fire safety would soon become a much bigger problem for Tom McFeely,
0:11:42 > 0:11:45embroiling him in a scandal of national proportions -
0:11:45 > 0:11:48one that made hundreds of people homeless
0:11:48 > 0:11:50and had tragic consequences.
0:11:51 > 0:11:56This is Priory Hall - a McFeely development in north Dublin.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01In October 2011, a judge was so worried about the fire risk here,
0:12:01 > 0:12:04that he ordered its swift evacuation,
0:12:04 > 0:12:05with fire engines standing by.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09More than 200 people were made homeless.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13- Will you come back here?- Never, I would rather sleep in the street.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18Apartments here cost in excess of a quarter of a million euro,
0:12:18 > 0:12:21and former residents spent the next two years facing mortgage
0:12:21 > 0:12:25arrears on properties they could no longer live in -
0:12:25 > 0:12:28homes that had become effectively worthless.
0:12:28 > 0:12:29It was terrifying,
0:12:29 > 0:12:32because, basically, our lives were turned
0:12:32 > 0:12:33upside down over the course of one weekend.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37Myself and my wife owed hundreds of thousands of euros.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39Suddenly you're starting to wonder, are we,
0:12:39 > 0:12:41for the first time in our lives, going to fall into these
0:12:41 > 0:12:44huge financial difficulties, have nowhere to live,
0:12:44 > 0:12:49and be stuck with this massive mortgage on a death-trap?
0:12:49 > 0:12:53For one former resident, the pressure apparently became too much.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57Father of two Fiachra Daly took his own life last July.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01His partner Stephanie Meehan spoke publicly about his death,
0:13:01 > 0:13:04which happened days after they had received another warning
0:13:04 > 0:13:06about their mortgage arrears.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10We had accumulated 19,000 plus
0:13:10 > 0:13:13arrears on our moratorium.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16And the usual letter that goes with it that your home is at risk...
0:13:16 > 0:13:18We didn't have a home.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22- Let's talk about Priory Hall.- OK.
0:13:22 > 0:13:28This has got more to do possibly with politics than anything else, right?
0:13:28 > 0:13:31- It might have something to do with building construction.- It might.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33- Does it?- It might.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37- I do not believe that Priory Hall should have been evacuated.- Why not?
0:13:37 > 0:13:40Because it was not the fire trap they said it was -
0:13:40 > 0:13:43no problems there that could not have been rectified.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45In Celtic Tiger Ireland,
0:13:45 > 0:13:49a strict UK-style system of building control just didn't exist.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53Contractors certified their own work as being up to standard
0:13:53 > 0:13:55and Tom McFeely maintains that the people
0:13:55 > 0:13:59he hired passed Priory Hall as being fit for purpose.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02This is all the documentation certifying everything.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06Is it not your duty, Tom, to ensure a certain quality standard?
0:14:06 > 0:14:09Just one second. We will get to that.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12This stuff went to everybody.
0:14:12 > 0:14:18Are you telling me that I personally should stand round
0:14:18 > 0:14:21watching 200 apartments getting built and I am going to see everything?
0:14:23 > 0:14:26For the people who lived in Priory Hall, that rings hollow.
0:14:28 > 0:14:29The fact of the matter is,
0:14:29 > 0:14:34256 people in Priory Hall lived in severe danger for years.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38Those 256 people lost their homes all because corners were cut.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41What everyone really wants to know is,
0:14:41 > 0:14:44do you apologise to the residents of Priory Hall for what happened?
0:14:46 > 0:14:49We are getting to the level of gutter media.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51- What would I apologise for? - A shoddy build.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53I don't think it is a shoddy building, you see.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55I don't think it is any different
0:14:55 > 0:14:58to most of the other buildings in Dublin.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00McFeely's business partner, Larry O'Mahony,
0:15:00 > 0:15:04was cleared by a court of responsibility for Priory Hall.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07But Tom McFeely says he's been seen differently
0:15:07 > 0:15:10because he is a Republican from the North.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13Anthony McIntyre worked at Priory Hall
0:15:13 > 0:15:15dealing with residents' complaints.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18Tom McFeely's old comrade says he's got it wrong.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21We have failed our residents completely.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23I have made many mistakes in life.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25I am full of regrets.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27But Priory Hall figures highly.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31Not because I feel responsible, because I didn't build it,
0:15:31 > 0:15:34but I feel I let them residents down.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37Priory Hall has cost Dublin City Council
0:15:37 > 0:15:41an estimated four million euro in security and rehousing costs.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45It became an unavoidable issue for the Irish government after
0:15:45 > 0:15:49Stephanie Meehan spoke about Fiachra Daly's death.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51They should have dealt with it two years ago.
0:15:51 > 0:15:52Then we wouldn't be in this mess.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55There wouldn't have been millions of taxpayers' money,
0:15:55 > 0:15:57and, most of all, we wouldn't have lost a life.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00Tom McFeely does not see how he can be in any way
0:16:00 > 0:16:03responsible for Fiachra Daly's death.
0:16:03 > 0:16:08Why didn't everyone else not commit suicide? In Priory Hall?
0:16:08 > 0:16:10What was the difference there?
0:16:10 > 0:16:13We are getting into something here and we are
0:16:13 > 0:16:15arguing about something which is very emotional
0:16:15 > 0:16:20and stressful on his family that is left behind, and it shouldn't be.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23I am not to blame for his suicide.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27I've spoken to Stephanie Meehan about Tom McFeely's interview.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30She told me she doesn't bear him any ill will.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35Fiachra Daly's death forced the Irish government to step in to help
0:16:35 > 0:16:38Priory Hall residents reach a settlement with their lenders.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42The inescapable irony is that Fiachra Daly killed himself
0:16:42 > 0:16:45over a debt that was not much more than the money found
0:16:45 > 0:16:48in Tom McFeely's former home.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52- How does that make you feel? - Terrible, absolutely terrible.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56That money could have saved Fiachra Daly's life.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00There is no other way to explain it.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08With the problems of Priory Hall headline news
0:17:08 > 0:17:11and arguments flaring over who was responsible for the residents,
0:17:11 > 0:17:15Tom McFeely pulled an unexpected move.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19He quietly asked the courts to make him bankrupt, not in Ireland,
0:17:19 > 0:17:21but in England.
0:17:21 > 0:17:26He told the bankruptcy court there he had only £5,000 to his name.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30His debts amounted to almost £300 million.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33Why did you apply for bankruptcy in Great Britain?
0:17:35 > 0:17:38Why did I apply for bankruptcy in Britain?
0:17:40 > 0:17:42By dint of what the Free State done in the 1920s,
0:17:42 > 0:17:44I am a British subject.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49I don't like it, I won't like it till the day I die,
0:17:49 > 0:17:50but that's not the point.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54People will find it curious that you fought
0:17:54 > 0:17:57and almost would have died for the Irish Republican Army,
0:17:57 > 0:18:03and yet you chose to avail of bankruptcy of the Queen.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05Tell me something...
0:18:05 > 0:18:08If you were hungry tomorrow,
0:18:08 > 0:18:11which of the two passports would you eat to put the hunger off you?
0:18:11 > 0:18:15People will hear that as a faintly unbelievable statement,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18given that you fought to rid Ireland of British rule,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21- then you applied for bankruptcy in Britain.- Of course I did.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24You think there is something strange about that?
0:18:24 > 0:18:27I was working here, living here. What would you have me do?
0:18:29 > 0:18:32The fact is, bankruptcy in Britain is much more lenient
0:18:32 > 0:18:34than in the Republic of Ireland,
0:18:34 > 0:18:38and other Irish developers have used it as an escape route.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41In Tom McFeely's case, it meant he could wipe out his many debts
0:18:41 > 0:18:45and be back in business in only one year.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48But this woman wouldn't let him get away with it.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54Theresa McGuinness was owed over 100,000 euros,
0:18:54 > 0:18:57after she sued McFeely for another shoddy build.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03But he hadn't paid her when he declared himself bankrupt.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06Tom McFeely went to the UK
0:19:06 > 0:19:09and tried to pull a very smart job
0:19:09 > 0:19:13off on the UK court system by declaring himself bankrupt.
0:19:13 > 0:19:18The fact that he was living in his palatial house, paying nobody,
0:19:18 > 0:19:20you can't live like that.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22You're not allowed to live like that.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25Theresa McGuinness decided to challenge
0:19:25 > 0:19:28Tom McFeely's UK bankruptcy.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32She and her partner Gerry investigated McFeely's finances.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34But, unable to afford big legal bills,
0:19:34 > 0:19:37Theresa chose to represent herself in court.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39Tom McFeely didn't realise
0:19:39 > 0:19:41he had met his match,
0:19:41 > 0:19:43and didn't realise that he had met
0:19:43 > 0:19:45somebody who was far stronger than he would ever be.
0:19:45 > 0:19:50Theresa McGuinness argued in the UK that Tom McFeely should be
0:19:50 > 0:19:52facing his debts back in Dublin.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56Remarkably, the former IRA hunger striker said it would
0:19:56 > 0:19:58breach his human rights to expose him,
0:19:58 > 0:20:03as a British citizen, to the punitive laws of Ireland.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05Theresa McGuinness won
0:20:05 > 0:20:08and McFeely's claim to a UK bankruptcy was thrown out.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13She then had him declared bankrupt under the tougher Irish regime.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17Bankruptcy in itself is supposed to be the solution.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19It is not a punishment.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23In what way was the solution for Theresa McGuinness
0:20:23 > 0:20:27bankruptcy in Ireland, or bankruptcy in England,
0:20:27 > 0:20:29apart from begrudgery, spite?
0:20:31 > 0:20:32What good did it do her?
0:20:32 > 0:20:37We showed Theresa McGuinness what Tom McFeely said about her.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40What good did that do her?
0:20:40 > 0:20:45'She got the better of this Northern IRA man? Is that what it's about?
0:20:45 > 0:20:47'Because that is what it seems to be about.'
0:20:47 > 0:20:52Poor Tom, he is really feeling sorry for himself.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54- Is that what it was about?- No.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59He says you got the better of him as a Northern IRA man.
0:21:02 > 0:21:08I honestly have never used his Northern Irish connections
0:21:08 > 0:21:12or activities ever, ever, in any of my court proceedings.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18- So what's going on in Tom's head? - He's insane, absolutely insane.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21- So when he says that? - He's looking for sympathy.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26He will never get sympathy from me.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29Tom McFeely owes millions.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33He says he has nothing and can't pay anyone back.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35But is that really true?
0:21:35 > 0:21:39Some of the people he owes think he's actually hidden away far more
0:21:39 > 0:21:42than the money found under the bath.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45It's a view shared by his own bankers.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52I'm in London looking for what's believed to be
0:21:52 > 0:21:55the source of Tom McFeely's secret money.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00In the mid-2000s, Tom McFeely bought a patch of land in London.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02Now, not just any patch of land,
0:22:02 > 0:22:05a potentially very lucrative patch of land in the East End,
0:22:05 > 0:22:09close to where the forthcoming Olympic Games were going to be held.
0:22:09 > 0:22:14And on it, he built this. It's called Athena Court.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17Once valued at almost £90 million.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21Though he bought the land and built the tower block,
0:22:21 > 0:22:23Tom McFeely says it's not his.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25Yet he has been accused of siphoning off
0:22:25 > 0:22:28huge sums of rental money from it.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32This firm of letting agents nearby were paying him
0:22:32 > 0:22:37£32,000 a week to rent out the flats, according to a court case.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41Money that McFeely says didn't go to him.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43Were Filtons taking rent for you?
0:22:43 > 0:22:48- They weren't taking rent for me. They were taking rent.- For who?
0:22:48 > 0:22:50What difference does it make who it was for?
0:22:50 > 0:22:53McFeely was connected to the payments two years ago
0:22:53 > 0:22:55when the letting agents were taken to court.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58The judge said that there was a strong suggestion that one
0:22:58 > 0:23:02substantial payment had been intimidated out of them,
0:23:02 > 0:23:04by Tom McFeely.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06When we caught up with McFeely a second time,
0:23:06 > 0:23:08he said that was all wrong.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11Show me the person that was intimidated.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14Just show me the person that was intimidated.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18Get him, get the person that I intimidated, please get him.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20Show them to me. Where are they?
0:23:21 > 0:23:24I called the letting agents to ask about this
0:23:24 > 0:23:25and they didn't want to talk.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30So just how much money was at stake here?
0:23:30 > 0:23:33How much has Tom McFeely been accused of hiding?
0:23:33 > 0:23:37According to court records, the answer was found tucked away,
0:23:37 > 0:23:39not in London, but back in Northern Ireland.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43Campsie, outside Londonderry.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47This is where Tom McFeely based another of his companies.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50In the company's e-mails were the records of the London rent deal,
0:23:50 > 0:23:53and the total amount is staggering.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56An e-mail sent here showed that those London rents
0:23:56 > 0:24:00came to a total of £2.9 million.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06£2.9 million paid at a time when Priory Hall was a mess
0:24:06 > 0:24:09and Theresa McGuinness was still owed her money.
0:24:12 > 0:24:13But who has that money now?
0:24:14 > 0:24:17Tom McFeely denies it was paid to him.
0:24:17 > 0:24:22He says it went to a company called Ashwood Enterprises.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25It's based on the Isle of Man.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27The question is, who controls Ashwood?
0:24:30 > 0:24:32Because it's based in the Isle of Man,
0:24:32 > 0:24:35the owner's identity is a secret.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Inside this building are the corporate service providers
0:24:39 > 0:24:44who, until recently, ran Ashwood for its real, hidden owners.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Now, obviously they know who that is,
0:24:47 > 0:24:49so I'm going to try to find out a bit more about it.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01My name's Ciaran Tracey. I'm here from the BBC.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04I would like to see someone from Ashwood Enterprises?
0:25:04 > 0:25:08The people in here wouldn't give us any details about Ashwood.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12But we know Tom McFeely's family was connected to the company.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15His brother Derek was once a director of Ashwood.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18And there is someone else who knows
0:25:18 > 0:25:20who benefited from that £2.9 million.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22Do you know who the beneficiary is?
0:25:22 > 0:25:25- Of course I do.- Why the secrecy?
0:25:25 > 0:25:29There is no secrecy. The bottom line is it is none of my business.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32People say you are the ultimate beneficiary.
0:25:32 > 0:25:38People have said a lot of stuff about me, led by the mob.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42But some of the people saying it were Tom McFeely's own bankers.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46Bank of Ireland has alleged that Tom McFeely is behind Ashwood.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48And in written submissions to a London court,
0:25:48 > 0:25:52it said he has hidden money.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55And we've learned that the Irish official overseeing McFeely's
0:25:55 > 0:25:59bankruptcy has made the same accusation.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03Tom McFeely denies it. And says they haven't got a shred of evidence.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06A representative of Ashwood has written to us.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09He says Tom McFeely is telling the truth
0:26:09 > 0:26:12and the London rents wound up with Ashwood.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15He wouldn't tell us who controls the company,
0:26:15 > 0:26:17but he says it's not Tom McFeely.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21Tom McFeely says the bank knows who really got the money.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25He says they've only accused him of controlling Ashwood because the
0:26:25 > 0:26:29Irish government's bad debt agency, NAMA, is trying to discredit him.
0:26:30 > 0:26:35The only option the court is left now is trying to prove that I am Ashwood.
0:26:35 > 0:26:41That is what NAMA is doing at the moment. And I am not Ashwood.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43No, and I never was Ashwood.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46And it was probably set up three or four years
0:26:46 > 0:26:47before I even knew about it.
0:26:48 > 0:26:54Who ended up holding those £2.9 million in rents remains a mystery.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57- Have you been hiding any assets? - No, listen to me.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01Everybody has been looking. I am in bankruptcy for just over two years.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04If there is anything that I have had for two years,
0:27:04 > 0:27:07I'm sure somebody would have found something.
0:27:07 > 0:27:08That he still have money?
0:27:08 > 0:27:11I believe he does, I believe it is well hidden
0:27:11 > 0:27:15and I believe he is playing a waiting game.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19The time will come when people will take their eyes off Tom McFeely
0:27:19 > 0:27:21and he will be free to operate.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25Tom McFeely and Ashwood remain closely connected in one respect.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28Together they are going back to court to argue that the London
0:27:28 > 0:27:31apartment block was illegally taken by NAMA.
0:27:31 > 0:27:36That will bring the former IRA man back to the courts of the Queen.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40I expect to get justice and the law in England.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42That is something for an Irish Republican to say.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46People will see a lot of legal action, and say,
0:27:46 > 0:27:49"If you are bankrupt, how you funding this?"
0:27:49 > 0:27:53I am finding it from friends, there is a lot of...
0:27:53 > 0:28:00The lawyers are doing it pro bono. And I have asked people for money.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03Everybody is not against Tom McFeely, you know.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06I am not going to be like a politician
0:28:06 > 0:28:08and claim that everybody loves me, they don't.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10But there is a lot of decent people in the country,
0:28:10 > 0:28:12a lot of decent people.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16Most of what has been recovered from Tom McFeely's properties
0:28:16 > 0:28:17has gone towards his bank debts.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23Spotlight has learned that NAMA sold off Athena Court earlier this month.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26The new owner's identity is also hidden offshore.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29The proceeds of the sale, for just over £30 million,
0:28:29 > 0:28:33will go towards paying off what Tom McFeely owed the banks.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38Even the bulk of the cash under the bath
0:28:38 > 0:28:41has also gone to cover bank debts.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45Fiachra Daly's partner and their children were given 5,000 euro
0:28:45 > 0:28:47from that stash,
0:28:47 > 0:28:49thanks to the generosity of the house's new owners.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52Theresa McGuinness has received nothing.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54Will you ever get your money?
0:28:54 > 0:28:57No, but I have closure. It is done, dusted.
0:28:57 > 0:29:03OK, I do not have the money I was owed, but life is not about money.
0:29:04 > 0:29:06I can sleep, I have a good lifestyle.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12Thomas McFeely doesn't, really.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16From the Troubles to the Celtic Tiger, Tom McFeely has lived
0:29:16 > 0:29:19at the forefront of Ireland's worst excesses.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22But he claims he will prove he has been victimised,
0:29:22 > 0:29:26regain his fortune and one day live again at Dublin's best address.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29Oh, I know I can get the bankruptcy overturned.
0:29:29 > 0:29:31What was done was illegal - I have no doubt.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34It was this IRA man from the North, no-one will say anything,
0:29:34 > 0:29:39he was notorious, he was this, that, everything,
0:29:39 > 0:29:40so let's kick him.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44But I am not going away.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48I ain't going away, I'm here, I'm around.