The Mayo property developer Kevin McGeever may now face prosecution after he admitted faking his own kidnapping.

The 68-year-old told Gardaí he was abducted last summer and held captive in a container for the past eight months.

He was discovered by a passing motorist, wandering barefoot and confused, on a country road in Leitrim last January and arrested last Thursday, on suspicion of wasting Garda time. He has since been released without charge.

The Sunday Times and the Sunday Independent both report today that the tycoon has since admitted that his kidnapping was all made up.

John Mooney of the Sunday Times explains why Mr McGeever decided to pretend he had been abducted: