A man and his wife who were held hostage by two armed post office raiders are still suffering from trauma, eighteen months later.

Melvin Kennealy, the postmaster of the Cefn-y-bedd Post Office, near Wrexham, was bound from head to ankle in duct tape in the attack in April 2001.

The court heard how the postmaster and his wife were held hostage

He and his wife Ingrid, who was also gagged, were held overnight, by the robbers, who later made off with �22,000.

The incident was one of a series of 18 raids on rural post offices during 2000 and 2001 for which two Merseyside men have been jailed at Chester Crown Court.

The robbery left both of them in shock, but Mrs Kennealy has suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and still has flashbacks, the postmaster said.

"Initially, we were badly shaken up obviously because of the shock and I had a few ribs that weren't working too well and a few cuts and contusions."

Mr Kennealy described how the evening began like any other: "We came back into the house, disarmed the alarms and went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea."

Then his wife thought she saw a child at the window. "I knocked on the window and a man stood up.

Utility room

"At the same time our French window, which had obviously been damaged before, was thrown open."

"A man came into the house and I was fighting him." he said.

"The fight didn't last long and I was off my feet - kicked about and thrown to the floor in the utility room.

"One of the men then proceeded to bind me up with duct tape, virtually from my ankles to over my head, over my eyes and nose as well."

Mr Kennealy said it soon became clear that the men wanted the post office safe and the money within it.

When the robbers asked for detail about the safe, Mr Kennealy chose to comply: "I gave them the information on the basis that if I didn't, they would stab my wife."

Mr Kennealy praised North Wales Police

And when the robbers heard the safe was on a time lock device, they decided to wait.

"So they went round the house, pulling curtains and blinds and making the place all closed up.

"They made sure that we were both tied up - my wife was tied up - and they virtually made themselves at home," he said.

He said he and his wife were on the settee. "We spoke briefly, basically kept our cool.

"We'd had some very good advice from the post office about hostage situations and we just put that into practice," he said.

Then, as the time came near for the safe to open, the atmosphere in the house grew increasingly tense," he said.

"At one point, one of them came through and said we've got the door half open now.

"And then one of them said: 'We're going now,' and they raided the safe and went."

Mr Kennealy paid tribute to local people and to North Wales Police.

He said when he heard the men had been arrested 'the relief was enormous'.