THREE men appeared in court last night charged in connection with the murder of Real IRA boss Peter Butterly.

Dean Evans (22), of Grange Park Rise, Raheny, David Cullen (28), of Brackenwood Avenue,Balbriggan, Co Dublin, and Edward McGrath (31), of Land Dale Lawns, Springfield, Tallaght,were charged before the Special Criminal Court with possession of an illegal firearm at the scene of the murder in Gormanstown, Co Meath last Wednesday.
All three were charged with the unlawful possession of a 9mm calibre Beretta model 9000s semi automatic pistol,

Amuunition

Evans and McGrath were also each charged with membership of an illegal organisation styling itself on the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann on March 6, 2013, as well as possession of seven rounds of ammunition with intent to endanger life at the car park of The Huntsman Inn, Gormanstown, Co Meath on March 6.
The court remanded all three in custody until March 14.

The men were all detained in the car park of the Huntsman Inn pub just seconds after Butterly was gunned down. Butterly (35) was a former commander of the Real IRA in Co Louth and was one of the main targets of the Garda Special Branch.
He travelled by car to meet with four men, while a fifth man was also present at the scene.
It is believed that gardai had the suspected dissidents under surveillance and had been monitoring the meeting between the six people.

Sources say that the gardai had intelligence that a firearm was to be exchanged and immediately swooped when they heard gunshots.
Five people were arrested, including 22-year-old Dean Evans. Our exclusive photograph shows the pumped-up dissident, who was a close pal of slain RIRA godfather Alan Ryan.

Evans was snapped last year outside a memorial for Ryan in the Submarine Bar in Crumlin on Dublin's southside.Evans's brother, Daragh, is currently in Portlaoise Prison awaiting trial in connection with charges of being a member of illegal organisation, namely the IRA.

One of the five nabbed at the murder scene was Ray Kennedy. It is believed Kennedy, with .an address in Whitestown Drive, Blanchardstown, west Dublin, had travelled separately to Gormanstown on the morning of the murder.
Ironically, Kennedy (33) had himself been the victim of dissident violence after being shot in the leg last April.

He was rushed to hospital after he arrived at the Topaz service station on the Malahide Road on the city's north-side with gunshot wounds to the leg,which Gardai believe were inflicted personally by Alan Ryan.
Kennedy had links to jailed dissident David Dodrill, who was kicked out of the RIRA for misappropriating funds.
Dodrill's pals were interrogated and tortured by Ryan over the missing cash.
Kennedy was released from custody on Friday afternoon and a file will be sent to the DPP. Another man was also released from Garda custody yesterday.

Explosives

Peter Butterly had a long history of involvement in dissident republicanism,had previously been charged with Real IRA membership, and was linked to a huge explosives and arms find in 2010.
He was expelled from the organisation in recent months after being accused of pocketing funds. Butterly was sitting in his Renault Megane when two men drove into the car park and fired two shots into the car.
As Butterly struggled to get out and flee, two further shots were fired. He fell to the ground as the two men sped off, throwing a 9mm gun from the car and over a hedge.



Slain Real IRA terror boss

Peter Butterly was a chief suspect in the barbaric 2010 murder of Derryman Kieran Doherty.
Today the Sunday World can reveal that Butterly was also a business partner of Doherty's.

Kieran Doherty (31) was lured from his home in the Brandywell area of Derry on February 24, 2010.
He was taken to the Braehead Road, close to the border with Co Donegal, stripped and bound and then shot in the head and chest.

?We can reveal that on the day of Doherty's murder, Butterly called to his home and ordered him to bring all documentation relating to their business venture to a meeting that night.
A Sunday World investigation has discovered that Doherty's company, Northern Lites (NI) Ltd,a cigarette manufacturing firm, was set up in April 2009 and had a start-up capital of stg £100,000.

Doherty used a Director nominee service - a controversial-but-legal scheme whereby a company owner is not named on public company documents.
Sources have told the Sunday World that after his initial £100,000 investment Doherty pumped another £95,000 into Northern lites, for the purchase of a tobacco rolling machine from China.
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In November 2009 Doherty told a newspaper that Mi5 had tried to recruit him as an informer.
Our investigation has found that, at the time of the interview, Peter and Eithne Butterly were the only named Directors of Northern Lites.
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Doherty was murdered by the Real IRA after the discovery of a cannabis factory in Carrigans Co Donegal.
The drugs were found in a house owned by Real IRA man Seamus McGreevy - a friend of Butterly's.
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Following the discovery of the drugs, both McGreevy and Doherty denied any connection to the house but two weeks later McGreevy took his own life.