Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH) executive Kevin Lunney has recounted in a BBC interview how he was slashed with a knife, doused with bleach and branded by his captors.

The 50-year-old father-of-six was found bleeding on a remote roadside after being abducted outside his home in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh, and later dumped in Co Cavan on 17 September.

He spoke publicly for the first time in a BBC Northern Ireland Spotlight programme about his abduction.

"It was a beautiful evening and I was thinking maybe I should cut the lawn ... came up the lane as usual, looking forward to seeing the kids, then noticed two-thirds of the way up the lane a white car just ahead," he said.

"There wouldn't normally be a strange car on my lane, so I stopped my jeep about 20 yards back thinking they'll either move off ... next thing I was aware of, they had put the car into reverse at high speed towards me and smashed into me.

"I could see two guys jumping out, hit the button (to lock the doors) and tried to get the phone out of the pocket. I wasn't able to get the phone open - probably panicking, I guess - next thing was the two side windows came in, they dragged me out onto the road."

Mr Lunney said a third person threatened him using a Stanley knife to get into their car.

In an exclusive interview, Kevin Lunney, a senior executive in Quinn Industrial Holdings tells Jim Fitzpatrick about his ordeal following his abduction and torture by a gang in September.#SpotlightNI pic.twitter.com/ERHHsfmvRZ — BBC Spotlight NI (@BBCSpotlightNI) November 5, 2019

He was forced into the boot, but made an attempt to escape, managing to open the boot of the car by pulling a lever from the inside.

"I did see a tractor and a car, I tried to wave to the car, but they didn't see me.

"I went to jump but I hadn't realised that the third guy inside the car had taken the seats down so he had come into the boot on his belly and had caught my right foot. I went to jump and he caught me by the right foot, so I kind of fell back into the boot," he said.

He had been secured in the boot again when he overheard one of his captors talking on the phone, addressing someone as "boss".

"Saying something like, 'boss, this man's resisted and we've hit him', [he] was reporting back to somebody, I don't know who," he said.

Later they placed a hood over his head before leading him into a horsebox. His captors then told him they wanted him to resign from QIH, which he agreed to before the torture started.

Mr Lunney described how his captors used the utility knife under his nails.

He became tearful as he recalled praying and thinking about whether he would see his wife Bronagh or their six children again.

The captors then poured bleach over Mr Lunney, and rubbed it into his hands, which had cuts on them, he said.

"It was excruciating, the pain of the bleach - I was screaming," he recalled.

They cut his clothes off with the knife, leaving him with multiple cuts and wearing only his underwear before pouring bleach on him and dousing his face with it.

"There was a lot of fumes, I started to cough and almost passed out," he said.

At this point, they told him again to resign from QIH, as well as the other directors.

"I said: 'I'll tell them to resign'. He [one of the men] said a number of times, 'we know you, we have been watching you'.

"At one stage he said: 'we have been watching you, we have seen you with your little daughter with the GAA top and you are going to do what we say'.

"Then he said: 'OK we believe you, but if you don't we'll be back, for you and all the family and everybody's family'."

Mr Lunney said his captors told him they "had to rough him up". Using a "baseball bat or a short fence post", his leg was struck twice.

Mr Lunney's leg was broken in two places and one of his arms beaten black, before the men cut both sides of his face and cut the letters 'QIH' into his chest.

He has grown a beard to hide the scars on his face.

"I felt that I was going to die on the road ... I almost gave up."

Looking back, he said he believes the haphazard way in which the cuts to his face were inflicted could have caused a fatal injury.

Mr Lunney was then dumped on the side of a road and warned not to speak to gardaí.

After the van drove off, Mr Lunney was left lying on his side, and dragged himself along the road to a junction in hopes of getting help.

"I was there for a while and there was no cars and I was really, really worried," he said. "I prayed a lot then, I was conscious I was starting to shiver, I was in agony."

Mr Lunney said he had started to drag himself up the road towards a house when he heard a tractor coming and raised the alarm.

His brother Tony told the programme Mr Lunney was in a bad way when he arrived at hospital, adding that he does not believe he would have survived the cold night had he not been found.

Tony Lunney

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Kevin Lunney said he believes his captors were acting on a "list of brutally specific orders".

"I think certainly the breaking the leg was on the list, it was, 'we have to rough you up, we have to mark you', and I think at the end with the things on my chest, it was, 'we have to make you remember'," he said.

"I felt that I was going to die on the road. I felt I was trying to get to the light in the house, a lot of things went through my mind and I almost gave up.

"I gave up a few times and came back again, thought about the kids and thought about Bronagh and surviving."

He expressed his hope that the investigation into his attack would bring those responsible to justice.

"There's a lot of police activity and hopefully that will bring fruition, but it needs to get to the person who is paying for this," he said.

The chief executive of QIH Liam McCaffrey has told Garda Commissioner Drew Harris that a failure to bring to justice those responsible would leave the border community in fear and would undermine the local economy.

Gardaí and the PSNI are investigating a campaign of intimidation, including death threats, targeting the QIH directors.