Gardai in Trim are investigating a troubling incident where a man was knocked out by someone posing as a Garda before having his car and phone stolen.
A man in his 30s was driving home at 4am on Thursday near Connell's Cross near Trim in Meath when a car with blue flashing lights started following him.
After indicating for him to stop the man pulled over and when he rolled down the window he was asked for his driver's licence. But then the assailant, who it seems was not wearing a garda uniform, hit the victim over the head with something heavy.
The man woke a few hours later to find his Ford Transit and phone stolen and as nobody would come to his aid, he was forced to walk 2km home to his house in Kilmessan.
The man's van was found in Bellewstown the next morning.
Their partners are some of the most notorious mobsters being held in Irish prisons, but as our photographs show, the life of bling goes on for the one-time partners of gangland’s finest.
Natasha McEnroe was once betrothed to crime boss Brian Rattigan and even had her first child with him.
However, when ‘King Rat’ was jailed for life for the murder of Declan Gavin in 2009, she dumped him and subsequently hooked up with another drug dealer, Paul Geraghty.
Rattigan flew into a rage when he first got the ‘Dear John’ letter from Natasha and Geraghty survived an assassination attempt in January 2011.
But peace was eventually restored and Natasha has gone on to have two children with Geraghty. This month, the pair dressed up in their finery to celebrate the confirmation of Rattigan’s daughter.
While her dad remains behind bars, her mum pulled out all the stops for the big day and even splashed out on special party bags, personalised bottles of champagne and a three-tiered Confirmation cake.
Just days after the celebrations McEnroe (32) and Geraghty (30), were arrested in connection with two separate seizures of almost €1million worth of drugs in Dublin.
The pair were lifted after gardai carried out drug raids in Ranelagh and discovered €350,000 in a bin outside a property.
The day before, another man and woman linked to the couple were arrested after the discovery of €525,000 of heroin.
Meanwhile, Ciara Killeen, the long-term partner of jailed killer John Dundon, managed to muster up a smile and don her glad rags for her big day out as she celebrated her son’s confirmation.
The Limerick moll even hired a stretched white limo for the party, which lover John can only see pictures of from his jail cell.
Ciara still lives in her fortress home in Ballinacurra Weston, Limerick, despite the demise of her husband’s gang, known as murder inc.
In 2013 he was jailed for the murder of rugby player Shane Geoghegan on the evidence of his brother’s former partner April Collins.
But Killeen hasn’t let her husband’s life sentence get in the way of the extravagant lifestyle she has been accustomed to.
Perma-tanned, she remains a close friend and neighbour of the other Dundon women – Ann Casey, wife of Wayne, and Ciara Lynch, Dessie’s partner, who lives next door.
The Sunday World understands that Ciara, who is deemed to be a ‘looker’ within the traveller community, has been finding it difficult to remain totally loyal to John, as she faces such a long time without him.
Last year a ‘friend’ of hers was jailed for five years for the possession of a makeshift firearm.
Gordy ‘Goz’ Ryan was rarely seen without Ciara until he was jailed, but their friendship came at a cost and gardai believe there was an active threat on his life from her husband.
In Sligo, Avril Boland put her troubles behind her to celebrate a family communion. Her partner Patrick Irwin is banged-up on cocaine charges.
The hairdresser, who earns just €300 a week, enjoyed a massive party and even managed to doll herself up in designer threads for the occasion.
She is one of a number of partners of drug dealer Irwin, and is known to enjoy fine clothes and a hectic social life.
She has been living in Sligo, surrounded by members of Irwin’s family since she was ordered out of her luxury Leitrim home after it was seized by the CAB, who proved in court it was built using the proceeds of drug trafficking.
Avril was just 23 and training to be a hairdresser when she applied in 2005 for planning permission to build the house overlooking the shores of Lough Gill on the Sligo-Leitrim border.
In the High Court, Mr Justice Kevin Feeney said her evidence about the financing of the property was inconsistent and self-serving. Quality
He said that she had a hairdresser’s salary of €300 per week, but lived a lifestyle − including residing in a high-quality house, driving a car and taking foreign holidays − which was funded by Irwin’s criminal activities.
He said that Boland’s bank account was effectively used to launder Irwin’s criminal funds and he ordered her to leave the house.
TWO men have been charged following a seizure of almost €500,000 worth of cocaine in Dublin.
Gardai from the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau arrested the pair following searches of a vehicle in Ballyfermot and a premises in west Dublin on Thursday.
Thomas Knowles, 55, from Knockriada, Chapelizod, Dublin and 34-year-old Mark McHugh with an address at Woodhaven, Clondalkin, Dublin, made no reply when they were charged under the Misuse of Drugs Act with possessing cocaine with intent to supply.
Both are alleged to have been in possession of cocaine at Kylemore Road, in Ballyfermot. Mr Knowles has an additional charge for possessing cocaine at his home address on the same date.
They appeared before Judge Michael Walsh at Dublin District Court today and were remanded custody with consent to bail in their own bonds of €10,000.
Judge Walsh also said to to take up bail they must have independent sureties in the sum of €15,000 for Mr Knowles and €10,000 for Mr McHugh. Some of the bail money would have to be lodged in cash, the judge directed.
Gardai had objected to bail.
Det Garda John Paul Carroll said Mr Knowles, an unemployed plasterer, faces a serious charge and is accused of possessing seven kilos of cocaine which has an estimated street value of €490,000.
He said the 55-year-old, who is in receipt of a disability allowance, was caught “red-handed”. However, he agreed with defence solicitor Niall O'Connor that the accused, a father-of-three adult children, was not a flight risk and was of limited means.
Det Garda Aisling Hobbs said Mr McHugh, an unemployed father-of-three was caught red-handed in possession of €70,000 worth of cocaine and it was likely there would be further charges.
Judge Walsh said that if the pair take up bail they must sign on at their local garda stations, provide gardai with a contact number, surrender their passports and not apply for duplicate travel documents.
They will face their next hearing on April 17 at Cloverhill District Court.
A trusted ‘foot-soldier’ in the ‘Fat’ Freddie Thompson gang has been caught smuggling more than 2,000 steroid tablets into Mountjoy Prison.
Convicted drug dealer Aaron ‘Benji’ Wrafter (34), was nabbed with the bodybuilding drugs last month as he returned to the jail after being granted Temporary Release.
It is believed the illegal drugs were found concealed on his body by officers in Mountjoy’s Training Unit on 9 May. The seizure highlights a growing problem for prison bosses, with steroid use becoming more popular in Ireland’s jails.
Crime boss John Gilligan used the dangerous drugs to pump up his physique while serving a lengthy sentence in Portlaoise Prison.
One prison source told us that steroids can be bought in most prisons in Ireland.
“They are as valuable as cocaine or heroin in some prisons. For a lot of prisoners, the only aim they have while they are in jail is to bulk up,” he said.
In 2012, Wrafter was locked up for six years after gardai found him with 5,000 ecstasy tablets and €27,000 worth of cocaine, as well as pressing machines and other drug dealing equipment.
Wrafter’s drugs factory was shut down by gardai only seven months after they seized a haul of drugs from him in another location in Dublin City Centre.
Wrafter was supplied with cocaine from Thompson’s crew. He would then mix it with potentially lethal mixing agents in order to make thousands for himself and Thompson’s drugs gangs.
