Cricket legend is kidnapped and held for ransom after being dragged from a home at gunpoint by an alleged crime gang
- Stuart MacGill was allegedly assaulted and kidnapped on Wednesday April 14
- Police allege the former Test cricketer was confronted in Cremorne, Sydney
- He was allegedly forced into a car and held at gunpoint in the western suburbs
- MacGill played 44 Test matches for Australia and three One Day Internationals
Cricket legend Stuart MacGill was allegedly assaulted and held for over an hour by an alleged crime gang after he was kidnapped at gunpoint on Sydney’s lower north shore.
Police allege the former Australian Test cricketer was confronted by a 46-year-old man near the intersection of Parraween and Winne Streets in Cremorne at about 8pm on Wednesday April 14.
Two other men then arrived at the scene and the 50-year-old leg-spinner was forced into a car.
He was driven to a home at Bringelly, in western Sydney, where the two men and another unknown man allegedly assaulted MacGill and threatened him with a gun.
MacGill, who played 44 Test matches for Australia and three One Day Internationals, was then driven to the Belmore area, in the city’s south-west, about an hour later where he was released by his alleged attackers.
Cricket legend Stuart MacGill (pictured in 2006) was allegedly assaulted and held for ransom in Sydney
Pictured: Stuart McGill and ex-girlfriend Julie Singleton arrive at the Sydney Children’s Hospital’s in 2016
Stuart MacGill was allegedly kidnapped in Cremorne, driven to Bringelly and then released in Belmore
Bringelly is about one hour from Cremorne and Belmore is a 40 minute drive from Bringelly.
NSW Police said the alleged abduction was reported to officers from North Shore Police Area Command on Wednesday April 20.
An investigation was subsequently launched by detectives from State Crime Command’s Robbery and Serious Crime Squad.
Four men – aged 27, 29, 42 and 46 – were arrested by police at about 6am on Wednesday.
They have been taken to local police stations where they are expected to be charged.
Police are executing search warrants at homes in Sutherland, Caringbah, Brighton Le-Sands, Banksia and Marrickville on Wednesday morning as investigations continue.
According to The Daily Telegraph, MacGill had been working at Aristotle’s Neutral Bay with his current partner before he was allegedly abducted.
He has been general manager of the modern Greek restaurant for more than three years.
Stuart MacGill is seen with ex-wife Rachel Friend back in 2005. The couple had two children together
Stuart MacGill appeals unsuccessfully for a wicket at Sydney Cricket Ground in January 2001
MacGill was in the news back in 2019 after he was caught behind the wheel while almost three times over the legal limit.
He had an ‘unknown number of glasses of red wine’ when police pulled him over on Military Road, in Sydney’s north shore, late on November 21, 2019.
In 2017, he agreed to an apprehended violence order (AVO) taken out by police on behalf of his ex-girlfriend Julie Singleton.
Police applied for the order after an incident between MacGill and Ms Singleton – the ex-wife of multi-millionaire John Singleton – in December 2016.
MacGill was served the AVO on Boxing Day that year and later agreed to it in court without admitting fault.
MacGill has two kids with ex-wife Rachel Friend. He married the former Neighbours actress in 2000 before separating in 2013.
MacGill played 44 Test matches for Australia and three One Day Internationals. He is pictured in 2005
MacGill, who is originally from Perth, made his Test debut in Adelaide against South Africa in 1998.
He has been acknowledged as having the best strike-rate of any modern spin bowler but was unlucky to find himself in the mix at the same time as cricket legend Shane Warne.
He struggled to hold his place in the squad as there was hesitation to have two wrist-spinners at once.
MacGill retired from Test cricket in 2008.
MacGill (pictured in 2007), who is originally from Perth, made his Test debut in Adelaide against South Africa in 1998