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Dissident Republicans Latest News, Aiden Hulme, Robert Hulme, Darren Mulholland, James McCormack, Real IRA
Dissident Republicans Latest News
SIX dissident republicans – who were serving lengthy prison sentences for bombing offences in the UK – have been released from Portlaoise maximum security prison after legally challenging their continued detention.



The six are: brothers Aiden (37) and Robert Hulme (34), Darren Mulholland (34), James McCormack (47), Anthony Hyland (41) and Liam Grogan (36) who claimed they were entitled to immediate release due to significant differences between the sentencing systems in Ireland and the UK.



The six were convicted and jailed for 20 years or more by the British courts in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

They were transferred back to Ireland to serve out the remainder of their sentences.

They were not entitled to early release under the Good Friday Agreement due to their links to dissident republicanism. They had release dates varying from September of this year to early 2016, but claimed their continued detention was unlawful.



In what were seen as test cases, inquiries into their detention were sought by Liam Grogan and Darren Mulholland and came before Mr Justice Gerard Hogan in the High Court in Dublin.



It was argued that as both men had fully served the sentence imposed on them in England, their continued detention was unlawful. They also claimed that had the standard Irish remission rates of 25pc been applied they would have been due for release some time ago.
The State did not contest the applications.
After being informed of the facts of the case the Judge made declarations that their detention was unconstitutional and ordered their immediate release.

Applications for inquiries into the detention of the remaining four applicants were adjourned.

When those cases returned before Mr Justice Hogan yesterday, the court was informed the Hulme brothers, McCormack and Hyland had been released and the application for an inquiry was now moot or pointless.

Similar inquiries in three other cases are due before the High Court next week.

All six were members of Real IRA units sent to London to launch a new terror campaign.

In 1999 Hyland, Mulholland and Grogan were convicted at the Old Bailey in London of conspiring to cause explosions in the UK between June and July of 1998.

The trial heard they were part of a Real IRA gang that plotted to cause explosions in London.
Hyland, from Mount Tallant, Terenure, Dublin, was sentenced to 25 years, while Mulholland, Meadow Grove, Dundalk and Grogan, Lakelands, Naas, Co Kildare were jailed for 22 years.
They transferred to Ireland in 2000.
In 2003 the Hulme brothers, from Dundalk in Co Louth, and James McCormack, also from Co Louth, were convicted following their trial at the Old Bailey of conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life and possessing explosions. The men, who were arrested in 2001, were also members of the Real IRA.

They were convicted in relation to a bomb attack outside the BBC television centre, London in March 2001 as well as bombings at Ealing Broadway tube station in London in August 2001 and Smallbrook, Queensway, Birmingham, the following November.


The Hulmes were sentenced to 20 years in prison, while McCormack received a 22 year sentence. Their transfer to Portlaoise occurred in 2006.

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A woman who was arrested yesterday morning in connection with the murder of Alan Ryan has been re-arrested in connection with a double murder in the capital.

The Irish Independent has reported the woman - who is allegedly the partner of a getaway driver - has been arrested again in connection with a double execution in north Dublin.

The woman was last night being questioned over the assassination of cousins Glen Murphy (19) and Mark Noonan (23).

The pair were ruthlessly murdered at a petrol station in Finglas in November of 2010.



The Kilbarrack woman, the Independent reports, was released at around 5pm yesterday evening and then immediately re-arrested in connection with the double murder.

Gardai were suspicious the woman was withholding information pertaining to the killing of Murphy and Noonan almost four years ago.

It is believed the pair were gunned down in a case of mistaken identity. Gardai investigating the horrendous crime believe a tracker was placed on a Toyota car that was similar to the car owned by the intended target.

It is unclear whether the woman was involved in any of the crimes but gardai reportedly believe her partner was the driver of the getaway car on the night of the double murder.

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This is the man linked to a terrifying shotgun attack that left another man seriously wounded and his sister injured.



The burly thug posted this picture on the internet and has a fascination with firearms, according to Sunday World sources.

Dan McCarthy, who has been banned from housing estates in his home town of Newcastle West – thanks to violent behaviour in Co Limerick – was arrested and questioned by gardaí this week.

He appeared at Limerick District Court yesterday, charged with breaching an exclusion order and was released on bail.

Ger Hennessy was blasted outside his house in Castleview, Newcastle West, Co Limerick, suffering serious but not life-threatening injuries.

The 34-year-old was hit in the side of his stomach and taken to hospital following the shocking attack at around 3.30pm last Wednesday afternoon.

His sister Colette Hennessy, who gardai believe was not the intended target, suffered shotgun wounds to one of her hands.

Ger Hennessy, who had recently returned to Limerick from abroad, was collecting shopping from a car outside the house when the gunman opened fire.

It was reported how a silver Volkswagen Passat pulled up outside and a gunman then opened fire with a shotgun.

Mr Hennessy suffered serious injuries to his side and shortly afterwards was airlifted to Cork University Hospital where his condition was described as serious.

In June 2012, Dan McCarthy was barred from entering Castleview for a period of three years after he was accused of being involved in “extreme acts of violence” and anti-social behaviour.

A previous bid by Limerick County Council to impose a barring order was put off to see if he would behave himself.

However, a judge made the order when he was told that in the meantime McCarthy had been convicted of drugs and public order offences.\[Ciaran Lennon (SW)\]His older brother Thomas McCarthy has previously been barred as well from entering both the Castleview and Sharwood estates in the town for three years

During one court hearing to deal with rampant gangs on the estate Judge Mary O'Halloran was told that local residents have endured “a living nightmare” in recent years.

The two brothers have previously been accused of been involved with a violent feud with members of the Rathkeale-based 'Nap' Ryan clan.

In 2011 they were among five people charged with being involved in a violent conflict in both Rathkeale and Newcastle West

However, the trial at Limerick Circuit Court dramatically collapsed after a number of witnesses refused to give evidence.

The trial Judge dismissed the case after five people who had made the original complaints to gardai all withdrew their evidence.

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SINN Fein leader Gerry Adams last night spent his second night in police custody as cops continue to quiz him over the abduction and murder of tragic mum-of-10 Jean McConville.

PSNI officers investigating the horrific 1972 murder of Ms McConville have until 8pm tonight to either charge Mr Adams in relation to the killing or release him.

Mrs McConville, wrongly accused by the IRA of being a British army informer, was dragged screaming from her home in Belfast in front of her terrified kids and driven across the border by IRA bomber Dolours Price, who died earlier this year.

Her body was eventually found buried under a beach car park in Co Louth in 2003, with forensic tests showing she had been shot through the back of the head.

Mr Adams (65) has strenuously denied any involvement in her murder, amid accusations from his former republican pals that he ordered the killing.

The Louth TD was arrested at Antrim Police Station on Wednesday after voluntarily presenting himself for interview and has spent the past two nights in custody.

He can be held for up to 48 hours without charge, with officers able to apply to a judge for the detention to be extended.

However, leading figures in Sinn Fein say the timing of Mr Adams’ arrest is politically motivated — as the party prepares for local and European elections this month.

The North’s Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness claimed the arrest was an example of the “dark side” of policing.

“I view his arrest as a deliberate attempt to influence the outcome of the elections that are due to take place in three weeks’ time, north and south on this island,” he added.

“That raises very serious questions around why that is the case and what is the agenda.”

Sinn Fein’s deputy president Mary Lou McDonald also said Mr Adams’ arrest was “politically motivated”, but this has been rubbished by rival politicians.

Interference

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said parties in the south have absolutely no connection with the arrest and questioning of Mr Adams.

“This is still a live murder case, and all I can say is that I hope that Deputy Adams answers in the best way he can,” Mr Kenny said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron also insisted there had been no political interference in the arrest.

PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott declined to be drawn into detailed comment at a meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, but said the probe would be “effective, objective and methodical”.

Mr Adams has rejected allegations by former republican colleagues that he had a role in ordering the killing.

Progress

No one has ever been charged with the murder of the 37-year-old widow, but after years without progress in the criminal investigation there have been a series of arrests in recent weeks.

Veteran republican Ivor Bell (77), from west Belfast, was charged in March with aiding and abetting the murder, while five other people have been detained and questioned.

It follows a decision by a US court compelling a university to hand over recorded interviews with republicans about the murder to the PSNI.

Boston College had interviewed several former paramilitaries about the Troubles — on the understanding that transcripts would not be published until after their deaths.

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The well-known criminal handed himself in after an arrest warrant was issued for him


Gangster Eddie Ryan Jnr was back in prison tonight after handing himself over to gardai.

The Limerick thug, who had been released from prison last month, had been caged for six years for possession of a firearm and ammunition.

The 31 year old was let out after the High Court ruled he should get a third of his sentence shaved off for good behaviour.

But the Supreme Court ruled on Friday that he was not entitled to the reduction and ruled it to be unconstitutional.

When he found out he was a wanted man, Eddie, who is the son of murdered gang thug Eddie Ryan senior, presented himself to Mayorstone Garda Station in Limerick.

He was then brought straight to the Midlands Prison where he will serve the remainder of his sentence.

Ryan is due to be released this November.

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The son of notorious 
criminal John Gilligan was arrested by gardai who raided his west-Dublin home yesterday and seized 
quantities of heroin and cash.

Gardai have not been able to secure any charges so far in the 10 gangland murders this year.

All 10 brutal killings are linked to organised criminality in the capital. Three of the murders have happened in Co Meath while the other seven have occurred in Dublin.

Of the seven gun murders in Dublin, two are being investigated by Tallaght gardai, two by Lucan gardai and one each by officers based at Coolock, Ballymun and Crumlin garda stations.

An 11th gun murder which happened in Tallaght in March has resulted in a 58-year-old man being charged - but this homicide is not classified as being in any way linked to organised crime.

The three gun murders which happened in Co Meath include this year's only double murder - the gruesome slaying of Coolock pals Eoin O'Connor and Anthony Keegan whose bodies were found on an island in Lough Sheelin in May.

The figures for the amount of gangland murders so far this year match the same time last year when there was also 10 gun murders directly linked to organised crime.

Michael 'Mad Mickey' Devoy

'Mad Mickey' (42, below) became the first gangland murder of the year when he was shot a number of times in the head before his body was dumped on the side of the road at Fox Hill Lane, Tallaght, on the night of January 18.

The chief suspect for the murder of the Ballymun man is a Dundalk based criminal with INLA connections who may have carried it out for a gang who suspected Devoy was involved in the botched hit on drugs trafficker Greg Lynch last October. Devoy had multiple previous convictions including for threats to kill two men in a row over rubbish bins and threatening to gouge out another man's eyeballs and kill him.

James Talbot

Talbot (46) was shot several times in the chest and arm with a handgun when he answered the door of his home at Abbeywood Court, Lucan, on the evening of February 13.

He was a well-known criminal who was previously a professional boxer and had served a sentence of seven years after being caught with IR£300,000 worth of heroin in 1997.

In the years before he was murdered, Talbot was involved in organising cannabis grow houses and prostitution and is believed to have had links to a number of Chinese criminals.

He was also involved in a bouncy castle business and it is understood that he was shot dead after getting in a cash dispute with a south inner city gang.

Stephen 'Dougie' Moran

Moran (46, below) was shot dead by a lone gunman as he walked to the front door of his house at the Earlsfort View estate in Lucan on the evening of March 15.

'Dougie' was known as a major underworld 'fixer' with strong links to Limerick's McCarthy/Dundon gang and he had been a big target for the Criminal Assets Bureau.

In the months before he was shot dead he had been acting as a driver for former mob boss John Gilligan in a bulletproof 4x4. Gardai believe Moran's murder was carried out by the same gang who tried to murder Gilligan on two occasions since his release from jail last October.

Declan 'Fat Deccy' Smith

Dissident Republican 'Fat' Deccy Smith (31) died in Beaumont Hospital in the early hours of March 28 from injuries he received when he was shot in the face with a shotgun outside a creche at Holywell Avenue in Donaghmede at around 9am on Friday, March 21.

Belfast man Smith was targeted after he dropped his son off at a local creche. A close pal of slain Real IRA terror chief Alan Ryan, he was previously the victim of a punishment shooting by his former IRA colleagues. But the chief suspect for murdering him is a gangster from the Priorswood area of north Dublin who Smith previously abducted and attacked.

John O' Regan

Window cleaner O' Regan(48, right) was shot up to six times as he cycled to work at Gateway Avenue, Ballymun, at around 8.45am on April 15 when a hitman on a bike approached and shot him before cycling in the direction of the city centre.

Originally from Finglas, O'Regan, a small-time drugs dealer, was not considered a major criminal but may have been targeted because of a bitter dispute in the Ballymun area. One line of inquiry in the investigation is whether O'Neill was targeted because he was a witness to a serious assault.

Eoin O' Connor and Anthony Keegan

The bodies of best pals O'Connor (32, right) and Keegan (33, below right) were found on an island on Lough Sheelin in Co Meath by a fisherman who noticed a foul smell on the afternoon of May 26.

However, gardai believe that they were shot dead on the evening of April 22 when they travelled to Co Cavan to retrieve a drugs debt owed to a notorious Coolock gang.

Two different guns were used in the murders of the pals who were set up by a major Dublin criminal whom they trusted. The chief suspect for carrying out the murders is a South African gangster who has since fled the country.

Christopher 'Git' Zambra

Zambra (39, right) was gunned down in broad daylight on the afternoon of May 4 this year. He was ambushed on Cooley Road, Drimnagh, as he drove to visit his sister and the gunmen continued to fire on him as he attempted to make his escape before he collapsed outside a house and died.

Drimnagh man 'Git' - who was one of the capital's most feared criminals and a member of the 'Mr Big' drugs organisation - was acquitted in June last year of the February 2009 murder of drugs trafficker John Carroll, who was shot dead at a pub in the Coombe.

Detectives believe he had been under surveillance for a number of weeks before he was shot dead. At least three men were involved in the attack which was most likely carried out by an INLA hitman.

Paul 'Ralph' Gallagher

Like Zambra, Donaghmede man Gallagher (26, left) was also involved in the 'Mr Big' mob, but he was not a major player when he was riddled with bullets in a field in Ballymacon, Co Meath, in the early hours of July 29.

'Ralph' was under threat because of his reckless behaviour in the months before his murder - including his involvement in stealing drugs and shooting up houses belonging to other criminals.

Gardai believe they have identified a number of thugs who were in the field including a highly volatile Donaghmede man who is aged in his early 20's and is known for violent crime and has a number of previous convictions.

'Fat' Andy Connors

Burglary gang boss 'Fat' Andy Connors (45, right) was shot dead in front of his family at their home on the Blessington Road in Saggart at around 11pm on August 19.

'Fat' Andy was the leader of a notorious burglary gang who have terrorised people across the country in recent years. Gardai are exploring a number of theories in relation to the murder including whether he was targeted by the INLA or a south Dublin businessman.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/news/woman-arrested-in-connection-with-alan-ryan-murder

Woman arrested in connection with Alan Ryan murder.

A gangster’s moll has been arrested in connection with the 2012 murder of IRA boss Alan Ryan.

The woman, from the Kilbarrack area of Dublin is aged in her early 30s.

She was last night being held in Coolock garda station.

She is understood to be the first female arrested in connection with the killing and she is being held on suspicion of withholding information.

The scene of Alan Ryan's murder

The Herald reports that the woman is the girlfriend of a major figure in the ‘Mr Big’ drugs gang and was arrested in the capital yesterday on suspicion of shoplifting.

Although she is not believed to have had an active role in the shooting of Ryan, she is thought to be holding key information about the murder and the gang that carried it out.

Alan Ryan (32) was shot dead in Clongriffin, north Dublin, in 2012.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/crime-desk/veteran-republican-these-acts-will-be-punished

Veteran republican: 'These acts will be punished.

Veteran republican Francie Mackey said at the weekend that the acts of desecration and intimidation of would not go unpunished at a commemoration for Real IRA chief Alan Ryan.

Just over 200 people turned out for the second anniversary memorial service yesterday in Balgriffin Cemetery on Saturday– less than half the number that turned up for last year’s service.

Tensions in North Dublin have been high all week in the run-up to the anniversary service.

Ryan’s local church was defaced earlier this week with two messages which threatened his younger brother, Vinny.

Blood-red graffiti reading ‘Alan Ryan rot in hell’ was also sprayed on a wall within the grounds.

The vandalism happened at the Holy Trinity Church in Donaghmede where Ryan’s funeral took place two years ago followed by a paramilitary-style procession to the cemetery.

It is suspected that the gang who had Ryan murdered carried out the attack on the church.

The same mob are suspected of attacking Ryan’s grave last year ahead of the first anniversary of his death.

Red spray paint was used to vandalise the grave with the insult ‘Rat Scum’ painted on the headstone.

Family keepsakes and small memorials were also defaced.

32 CSM chairman Mackey told mourners on Saturday that Ryan had “the heart of a lion”.

He said that “his sacrifice will become the bedrock on which our triumph will be born.”

He also vowed that republicans would confront the drug gangs behind Alan Ryan’s murder and also the people responsible for the recent graffiti campaign abusing the murdered dissident.

He said: “These acts of desecration and intimidation will not go unpunished. Anyone who thinks they will are deluded.”

He also said that Ryan was a proud republican who “stood up against some of the most vile individuals in this country”.
Shots

Among those attending the service were his brothers Dermot, Vinny and Anthony, as well as his former partner, Stacey Roche.

On Saturday officers from the Garda Dog Unit, the Mounted Unit, the Emergency Response Unit, the Special Detective Unit and the Public Order Unit were all drafted in to ensure there were no open paramilitary displays at the event.

In 2012, balaclava-clad ‘volunteers’ fired a volley of shots over Ryan’s coffin sparking outrage from the then Justice Minister Alan Shatter.

On saturday after 1pm a large group of supporters began to gather at Ryan’s home at Grange Abbey Drive, Donaghmede, where a pipe band played and uniformed supporters banged drums.
They were met by a heavy police presence including riot gardai who stood in close proximity to the house and along the route of the march.

Before his death, Ryan had been responsible for extorting hundreds of thousands of euro in so-called ‘protection money’ for the city’s drug gangs.

The dad-of-two, who was the head of the IRA’s Dublin brigade, was the most feared man in the criminal underworld and had personally murdered at least two drug barons.

However, a North Dublin gang are believed to have decided to execute Ryan rather than pay ‘tax’ to the group.

http://www.herald.ie/opinion/columnists/...s-30574198.html

Streets of the Costa del Crime are new gang killing fields.

10 SEPTEMBER 2014 02:30 PM

Some years ago I travelled to the Costa del Sol.

During my time there I bumped into an old detective colleague from my days in Dublin.

My pal, who had retired to Spain, took me on a guided tour of Mijas, Estepona and Marbella. He pointed out the unsuspecting bars, cafes and gyms that were the haunts of the major Irish gangland figures there.

It was here that the Irish criminal fraternity rubbed shoulders with the Russian mafia and other Eastern European and North African gangs.

This was also the area where the so-called 'Dapper Don', Christy Kinahan, headquartered his drug operations.

And it was in this part of the world that Dubliner Gerard 'Hatchet' Kavanagh (right) met his end in a hail of bullets last weekend.

Violent

Kavanagh was reportedly a drug debt collector for the Kinahan mob. He was also a violent career criminal with drugs convictions here, who apparently decided to move to Spain after being targeted by the Criminal Assets Bureau.

Little good it did him in the end. He was shot dead in an Irish bar, near Marbella at 5pm last Saturday.

I never encountered Gerard Kavanagh but during my 11 years as a detective serving in the Drimnagh area in the late 80s and 90s I had several encounters with his notorious gangster uncle, Jo Jo Kavanagh.

Jo Jo, one of The General Martin Cahill's lieutenants, was eventually caught and jailed over the abduction of a bank director in a failed extortion plot.

Gerard Kavanagh himself was a dangerous mobster and a much feared enforcer for Kinahan's drug syndicate.

There's no doubt that his shooting will lead to revenge attacks and killings in the near future and not necessarily in Spain.

killing

Such is the nature of Irish gangland nowadays that the link between Dublin and the Costa is a strong one, with criminals moving back and forth with ease. Witness how easy Hatchet was shot.

I've no doubt there will be a number of Irish gangsters looking over their shoulders this week as they sip their sangria in the Spanish sun.

One lesson to be taken from Kavanagh's murder is that the Costa del Crime can no longer be viewed as the relatively safe haven it was until now for Irish criminals.

The streets of Marbella and Estepona look like becoming the new killing fields in the murderous feuds of Irish gangland.

http://www.rsflimerick.com/


A scurrilous article appearing in today’s edition of the Free State gutter press newspaper the Sunday World [21/09/14], by the disreputable tabloid journalist Eamon Dillon, has come to the attention of the leadership of Republican Sinn Féin. The leadership of Republican Sinn Féin now make the following facts public. The above mentioned article has no basis in fact whatsoever, it is composed completely of lies and slander and is no more than a low attack on Republican Sinn Féin, and the character and good name of a senior member of RSF. This article was concocted by the following individuals who have recently left the republican movement; Frank Nolan, his brother Robert Nolan and Stephen Fogarty, on a visit to Portlaoise Gaol last Tuesday [16/09/2014]. It has become known by RSF that similar scurrilous articles carried in the Sunday World relating to other republican groups are also the work of Frank Nolan and an accomplice, who is also known to RSF. Frank Nolan does not speak for any POW’s other than his brother Robert Nolan and Stephen Fogarty, who’s criminal past is well documented, as the following link can attest to: http://www.herald.ie/news/courts/suspect-threw-gun-in-flowers-as-he-fled-29149905.html It has also since transpired that Frank Nolan was expelled from another Republican group along with other un-desirables in 2007, as was stated in the newspaper of that organisation. Unfortunately, Frank Nolan was then accepted as a member of RSF by people who left RSF in 2010 with the Ó Brádaigh / Dalton gang. Republican Sinn Féin now send the following warning to other republican groups which Frank Nolan may seek membership of: Frank Nolan and those he associates with are no more than anti-republican reprobates who carry out the work of MI5 and Free State Special Branch, they are the enemies of Irish republicanism who feed the gutter press with anti-republican propaganda and profit from this and other base activities. They are to be avoided at all costs by all decent Irish Republicans.

Issued by the Ard Chomhairle, Republican Sinn Féin, 21/09/2014

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-30085164

Court told MI5 secretly recorded alleged dissident suspects.

The men were arrested on 10 November at a house in Newry, County Down, as Mark Simpson reports
Continue reading the main story
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A court in Northern Ireland has been told that MI5 secretly recorded a group of men as they planned attacks on police officers and judges.

The claim was made in Newry Magistrates Court where seven men were charged with a number of terrorist offences.

The men were among 12 arrested on 10 November at a house in Newry, County Down, by police investigating the activities of the Continuity IRA.

All seven were remanded in custody.

A detective told the short hearing that MI5 had used a listening device to record conversations over a period of months during which the men discussed weapons training and funding for terrorist activities.

The officer said "somewhere close to 70 hours" of material gathered in the property in Ardcarn Park over a three-month period from August included a series of meetings involving "leading key figures of a proscribed organisation".

She also answered "correct" when asked by a prosecution lawyer if topics discussed during the meetings included membership of a proscribed organisation; weapons training; funding terrorist activity; plans to commit acts of terrorism; and plans to procure firearms and ammunitions.

The lawyer then asked: "Specific individual police officers were discussed with a view to targeting them?"

The detective sergeant answered: "That is correct."

Asked if "members of the judiciary" were also discussed at the meetings, she again answered in the affirmative.

The lawyer then asked had there also been talk that a dissident member be "taken out" for apparently posting material on the internet.

"That is correct," replied the officer.

Four of the accused are from the Republic of Ireland and three from Northern Ireland.

All have been charged with membership of a proscribed organisation, while six face charges of conspiracy to possess explosives with intent to endanger life, conspiracy to possess firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life and preparation for acts of terrorism.

Five of the men are also charged with directing terrorism.

Five other men detained in the swoop on the property in Ardcarn Park, Newry, were subsequently released pending police files being sent to prosecutors for assessment.

The five men facing a count of directing terrorism along with the four other charges are Patrick Joseph Blair, 59, from Villas Park, Dundalk; Liam James Hannaway, 44, from White Rise, Dunmurry, County Antrim; Joseph Matthew Lynch, 73, from Beechgrove Avenue, Limerick; Sean O'Neill, 75, from Quinn's Cottages, Limerick; and Colin Patrick Winters, 43, from Ardcarn Park, Newry.

The man facing four charges is John Sheehy, 30, from Clounmacon, Listowel, County Kerry.

Seamus Morgan, 58, from Barcroft Park, Newry, faces the solitary charge of membership of a proscribed organisation.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/gar...k-30869312.html


Gardai help to combat IRA operations on mainland.

http://www.herald.ie/news/guinea-pig-in-brutal-new-rira-drugs-feud-30879001.html

'Guinea Pig' in brutal new RIRA drugs feud.

Ken Foy, Crime Correspondent – 03 January 2015 08:30 AM
Detectives fear a potential bloodbath after a feud ignited between a gang linked to the 'Guinea Pig' and a dissident Republican group.

The Herald has learned that Dublin gangster Mark Desmond, nicknamed the 'Guinea Pig' has been acting as a "heavy" for a mob who control drug dealing in the north west of the country and source their drugs from a Dublin gang.

Subsequently, this has brought Desmond – who sources say has been working for convicted local drugs dealer Barry Young – into direct confrontation with a crew who are led by Aaron Nealis.

Nealis suffered serious leg injuries when he was shot as he walked with Alan Ryan, the RIRA chief – murdered in September 2012. Nealis’ group claims to be anti-drug dealing vigilantes.

The tense feud is being played out in Sligo town and is so serious that the heavily-armed special detective unit is constantly monitoring the situation.

This has been brewing for many months now but it looks like it might come to a head very shortly.

Barry Young and his crowd have been constantly in bother with Aaron Nealis and his people but things took a different dimension when Mark Desmond started getting involved.

"For one thing, local dealers that might have owed Young money but were stalling on paying him suddenly were able to cough up when Desmond arrived at his side. That is for sure - everyone is terrified of him."

Barry Young (31), originally from Geldof Drive, Cranmore, Sligo, received a six-year sentence after pleading guilty in relation to a €21,000 cannabis resin seizure at a graveyard in March 2006.

A team of seven gardai busted Young and another man in the remote Kilmacowen graveyard, where they were caught with drugs with an estimated street value of €20,853.

Dealing

Young admitted his involvement under questioning and accepted full responsibility for the drugs.

After being released from jail, Young has continued to be involved in serious drug dealing and this has brought him into direct confrontation with the IRA, according to sources.

However Young and his mob are fighting back and with Mark Desmond involved in debt collection and "protection" for them, the dissident Republicans are now under serious pressure from the dealers.

"Individuals have been seen in the vicinity of the homes of these so-called Republicans, staking these properties out.

"Nothing has happened yet and gardai are on top of it as much as they can be but this is a serious situation, make no mistake about that," a source said.

Mark Desmond is notorious in Dublin's underworld and is suspected of murdering two young men and dumping their bodies in the Grand Canal in 2000.

Dubbed the 'Guinea Pig'. Desmond was the only man to have been charged in the notorious 2000 'canal murders' investigation.

Dumped

Both young men in the canal murders were shot in drug-related killings and their bodies dumped in the Grand Canal at Karneystown, Co Kildare, between December 19, 1999, and January 10, 2000.

The murder charges were dropped by the Director for Public Prosecutions and the Court of Criminal Appeal later overturned Desmond's conviction and eight-year sentence on a charge of unlawful possession of firearms with intent to endanger life.

kfoy@herald.ie

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/crime/new-anti-drugs-movement-vows-4918294

New anti drugs movement vows to kick dangerous crime gang out of Sligo.

Ciaran Kelly who has set up a group targeting drug dealers in the Sligo area.

A new anti drugs movement has waged war on a dangerous crime gang and vowed to kick them out of the north-west.

The group, which claims to have 1,000 members, says Dublin criminal Mark ‘The Guinea Pig’ Desmond moved to Sligo several months ago, where he is helping a local dealer collect debts.

Anti Drugs Movement (ADM) president Ciaran Kelly says homes have been targeted by the mob and official death threats have been given to four members of his group.

Now 46-year-old Republican Mr Kelly claims that people are fed up with the mob and has vowed to strike back.

“We are going to stop this Dublin gangster. He was run out of Dublin by the IRA and he set himself up in Sligo.

“He has been spotted here for the last six months and he has linked up with a local drug dealer.

“We are going to run him out of Sligo back into whatever hole he crawled out of. The people in the town are sick of it.”

The ‘Guinea Pig’ remains the chief suspect for the double murder of Darren Carey, 20, and Patrick Murray, 19, in December 2000.

The two men were shot in the head and dumped in the Grand Canal at Karneystown, Co Kildare, between December 19, 1999, and January 10, 2000. The killings were drug-related.

Desmond, who is originally from Lally Road, Ballyfermot, was charged with the murders but never convicted.

More recently associates of Desmond were linked to the murder of James Kenny McDonagh -- whose body was found dumped in the Dublin mountains two years ago.

A senior source explained that Desmond moved to Sligo town in 2014 where he has been regularly spotted in the company of convicted drug dealer Barry Young, 29. Young previously served a six-year sentence after he was caught collecting cannabis that was stashed in a graveyard.
Sligo drug dealer Barry Young

The town’s drug industry was previously run by the notorious Irwin brothers but senior sources say Young has filled a vacuum left by their absence.

Mr Kelly explained that his group have been targeted on three occasions by associates of Young and Desmond.

Some members of the ADM, which claims to be unarmed and non-political, are former pals of murdered Real IRA chief Alan Ryan.

Aaron Nealis, who was shot in the leg by the same gunman who killed Ryan, is one local who remains under constant threat from the drugs gang.

In March a masked and armed gang tried to break into his Sligo.

Former sea captain Mr Kelly said gardai have delivered notice of official ‘death threats’ to himself, Nealis and two others.

However he insisted that they are not intimidated by the gang.

“We don’t fear these gangs. They are just a bunch of thugs. They can intimidate a drug user on the streets but we have no fear of them.”

Mr Kelly, whose son Wayne died in suspicious circumstances nine years ago, said: “We will not stop until they are out of Sligo.”

“We are determined that this town will not become a safe haven for people that deal with these drugs gangs

“Anyone that is involved in any way whatsoever with these criminal gangs, we will target them.

“We are not an armed group, that would be illegal. We are not an IRA group.”

Mr Kelly, who is orginally from Co Waterford, added: “This is not about all the youth that have been lost in this war already. This is about the kids that are going to be lost if we don’t do something.

“We cannot, no longer stand by and watch these criminal gangs, and watch them operate with what seems like immunity.

“We cannot accept it, it is totally and utterly unacceptable.”

He continued: “We see that we have no choice ourselves but to stand and fight back.”

A senior source explained that gardai in Sligo are bracing themselves for an all-out war in the small town.

“This is a powder keg waiting to explode. You have two sides who are unwilling to back down and this could end very badly.”

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/c...sident-activity

Gardai seize rifle and arrest two in connection with dissident activity.

Gardaí have arrested two males and seized a firearm as part of an ongoing investigation targeting dissident Republican activity.
Gardaí attached to Garda Headquarters and local Garda units carried out a planned operation yesterday morning in the Dundalk area, a spokesperson said.

As part of the operation a male aged in his 40s was arrested and a rifle recovered when members of the Regional Support Unit stopped and searched a car on Point Road, Dundalk.

A second male - aged in his late 50s - was later arrested during a follow up search at a house also in the Dundalk area.

Both men are currently detained under Section 30 of the Offences against the State Act, 1939 at Dundalk Garda Station.

Investigations are ongoing.

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/crime/female-garda-used-official-id-5001732

Female garda used her official ID to cut up cocaine', it's been claimed.



A female garda arrested in a drugs gang operation once cut cocaine with her official ID, it was claimed today.

Sources said the officer, stationed in North Dublin, used it to chop up lines of the white powder at a party.

She is understood to have been detained while in the company of a notorious gangster who has terrorised the North-West of the country for more than five years.

The officer, arrested in Sligo town on Friday evening alongside the man in his 30s, was immediately suspended by Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan pending the investigation’s outcome.

The operation was part of an ongoing probe by gardai and the Organised Crime Unit into criminal gangs in the area.

The gang of which the arrested man is a member was previously targeted by local and national officers investigating the drugs trade.

Questions had been raised about the female officer in the past and about the people she was associating with and meeting.

It’s understood some of those she was seen in the company of raised suspicion among detectives.

Investigating officers are also trying to establish if the arrested officer has addiction problems herself.

It’s believed she was in a relationship with the man she was arrested alongside and whom gardai believe to be a key figure in one of two feuding gangs based in Sligo.

A number of the gang’s key figures are currently serving prison sentences.

Both were arrested under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and questioned in relation to drug offences at Ballymote Garda station.

They were released without charge at 6.30pm on Saturday and a file is being prepared for the DPP, which will then decide whether criminal charges will be brought.

It is not the first time a garda has been arrested on suspicion of consorting with a criminal gang.

In the past three years at least two officers have been prosecuted, with one serving a jail sentence.

A group called anti drugs movement is doing the rounds saying they will take on five criminal gangs in Ireland.

Catching the attention of the Irish media of late aka AMD have said the criminals are in hiding from ADM members and are on the run, all very interesting stuff coming from this new group.

This seems like a new push by excommunicated Republicans going by news reports of old same names etc etc.

The criminal community has shown in the passed their strike back ability to perform or achieve certain actions my money in any war is on the criminals to my amazement AMD have stated they passed information to the authorities on the criminals in Ireland's very long history Even today informers cast a long shadow i think this is a story in itself Republicans acting as informers to the Irish authorities the history of Republicans and the Irish authorities is HATED rivals for superiority in the same field of activity so it is with shock Republicans are now name tagged with fifth column activity.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0129/676476-garda-searches/

30 searches carried out in organised crime investigation.

Gardaí have carried out searches all over the country as part of an investigation into the activities of an organised crime gang with links to dissident republicans.

The searches are part of a long-running investigation into organised crime, focused on a Dublin businessman with links to the Real IRA.

Over 30 searches took place in Dublin, Kildare, Cork and Louth at homes, accountants and solicitors' offices, storage depots and a hotel.

Gardaí carrying out searches relating to organised crime gang
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Watch: Gardaí carrying out searches relating to organised crime gang
Watch: Gardaí carry out searches relating to organised crime gang
Over 100 gardaí from national and specialist units, including the Organised Crime Unit and the Criminal Assets Bureau took part in the searches.

The businessman is believed to be under the protection of the dissident group, which is suspected of being involved in the murder of Andy Connors, who was shot dead last August.

Documentation, computers, cash, antique furniture, paintings, a handgun and a shotgun were seized.

No arrests have been made but gardaí say investigations are ongoing.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/CRIMELORD+GETS+EL+OUT+OF+IRELAND%3B+Real+IRA+targets+trafficker.-a0299099215

CRIMELORD GETS EL OUT OF IRELAND; Real IRA targets trafficker.

Byline: CATHAL McMAHON

A CRIME godfather has fled to Spain after he uncovered a plot to kill him.

International drug trafficker Hugh Irwin travelled to his native Sligo in June after spending up to four years abroad.

But the Irish Daily Mirror can reveal the 33-year-old fled the North West in recent days after clashing with a Real IRA gang.

A Republican source revealed the dissident gang were planning to take out the dad of eight.

He said: "Hughie was back attempting to throw his weight around but hightailed it to Lanzarote on Tuesday. "Gardai warned him his life was in danger. He was told he was being monitored.

"The assassination plot was at an advanced stage of planning so he probably made the right choice."

Last year a judge ordered Irwin to hand over a boat, an ice-cream van and almost EUR90,000 in cash to the Criminal Assets Bureau.

Irwin is largely based in the holiday island of Lanzarote where he controls an international drug network that has flooded the North West of Ireland with cocaine and heroin.

His brother Patrick, 30, is serving seven years in jail after he was nabbed with EUR55,000 worth of cash and almost a kilo of cocaine. One of their associates Martin "Butch" Beirne from Boyle in Roscommon died in Venezuela earlier this year after he ingested up to 90 pellets of cocaine.

The drug mule was planning to transport the drugs back to Europe for the gang. Associates of Hughie and Patrick Irwin are believed to have carried out the gangland murders of traveller criminal Hughie McGinley in 2005 and robber David Lynch in 2008.

The dissident gang is the biggest challenge to their empire since Garda clampdown Operation Golf in 2008. This small Real IRA gang has close links to the Dublin branch of the terror mob.

Irwin is not the first drug dealer to be targetted by dissidents.

Last month Barry Young, 28, from Cranmore, Sligo, who was convicted of having drugs for sale or supply, was forced to give the Real IRA thousands.

He was ordered not to sell drugs in the town and warned he would be killed if he was spotted dealing.

.

Criminals attack Real I.R.A. members in north Dublin, i can't get a link to the report in yesday paper right now.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/pau...s-30962931.html

Paul Williams: Breen once epitomised the new breed of young gang boss.

He once epitomised the new breed of young gang boss to emerge with the new Millennium - a brash, dangerous, drug-dealing murderer for whom there were no behavioural boundaries.

Karl Breen relished the glamorous-sounding sobriquet, the 'Champagne Killer', which he earned after stabbing his best friend to death in a drunken, cocaine-fuelled frenzy.

From the prison cell he called home for seven years, Breen posted pictures of himself on Bebo and YouTube, displaying his bare chest covered with tattoos.

This was the same cell from where he organised drug rackets, shootings, bombings and killings on the outside.

Last October, when he was released from prison, gardaí and Breen's rivals went on the alert for a likely outbreak of violence believing that he was either going to kill or be killed.

But the drug dealer found himself isolated and forced to lie low. Associates said he had become paranoid that his life was in danger.

Karl Breen in 2007
Karl Breen in 2007
In the end it was 34-year-old Breen who apparently precipitated his own ignominious demise with the help of either a drug overdose or a drug-induced heart attack. The once-feared gangster was found by family members in the Finglas apartment where he had barricaded himself from his real - and imagined - enemies.

He was sitting on a foot stool with his back leaning against an armchair.

The Clondalkin and Ronanstown estates were terrorised by shootings and bombings orchestrated by Breen from his prison cell and carried out by his loyal henchmen.

He won't be mourned by the family of Martin McLoughlin, the best pal he killed in a haze of Champagne and cocaine on New Year's morning 2006.

The witnesses to that slaying who were forced to flee the country because they testified at Breen's trial - while their families were terrorised at home for years - can now return to west Dublin without looking over their shoulders.

Gardaí classified Breen, who was originally from Nangor Green in Clondalkin, as an "extremely violent and dangerous" criminal.

Over a two-year period from 2008 to 2010, he unleashed a violent rampage on the estates of west Dublin, targeting gangland enemies and people who owed him drug money.

The campaign was co-ordinated by his most loyal lieutenant, Pierce Reid, who led a gang of over 30 thugs to ensure that Breen retained control of the drug trade by shooting potential opponents. Reid had four bullets tattooed on his torso to mark the number of gangland killings he had been involved in. He was shot dead in 2009.

Gardaí compiled a list of at least 100 incidents in which houses were shot at or damaged by pipe bombs.

In one incident, the mother of the gang's intended victim was shot and seriously injured. In others, young children were lucky to escape unhurt.

On another occasion, cars belonging to two prison officers were set alight as Breen expressed his dissatisfaction at being moved from Mountjoy to the Midlands Prison.

The home address of a local detective who had crossed his gang was daubed on a wall in the area to show they knew where he lived.

In a demonstration of his defiance, Breen set up his own Bebo/YouTube pages, which displayed pictures of him posing in his cell.

In one picture, Breen posed with a photograph of a former friend in his hand: it was a message that the guy had crossed the line and was now a marked man.

He even posted a demonstration video for a Glock automatic handgun - the preferred weapon of choice for most gangs, including Breen's.

http://www.sundayworld.com/news/crimedesk/dealers-at-centre-of-anti-drug-protests

Dealers at centre of anti-drug protests.

TWO drug dealers took part in Anti-Drug Movement’s (ADM) first public demonstration last year.

The group was set up by Waterford republican Ciaran Kelly last year.



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Ciaran Kelly

Kelly has been vowing to take on drug dealers in recent months and his group is currently in a dispute with a Sligo drugs gang headed by convicted dealer Barry Young.

Since setting up the group, he has been naming and shaming people that he has labelled drug dealers.

Last week,we revealed how a grandmother said she was falsely labelled a dealer by Kelly, as she stood up for her daughter who had given him information on dealers, only for him to pass on a secret recording of the conversation to the dealers she named.

After further investigations into the group we have obtained a video of Kelly’s first public meeting in Dungarvan where he vowed to clean the town of drug dealers.

However, in an ironic twist, two of the people involved in organising the march are drug dealers.

One of the men was Keith Keohan (41) from Convent Lodge, Mitchell St, Dungarvan. In November 2013 – just months before the Dungarvan march – Keohan was convicted over a cannabis haul of €44,500.

Yet he was bizarrely involved in the organisation of Kelly’s first march in Dungarvan in August last year – just nine months after his conviction.

A second drug dealer was also in attendance at the march.

During his speech, Kelly said: “Everyone in this town knows who the drug dealers are.”

When the speech was over, a local woman heckled Kelly saying he was not helping Dungarvan. Naming Keohan and another man she added: “And the same two fellas in your group are f***ing running the town with drugs.”

Kelly eventually admitted Keohan was a drug dealer in an online post in late September last year. He declined to comment when contacted yesterday.

http://www.herald.ie/news/murdered-ryans-best-mate-is-beaten-up-by-drug-dealer-31054554.html

Murdered Ryan's best mate is beaten up by drug dealer.

BY KEN FOY CRIME CORRESPONDENT – 10 MARCH 2015 03:00 AM

The best pal of slain Real IRA chief Alan Ryan was given a severe beating by a drugs trafficker who is suspected of having paid into a "gangland kitty" for the 2012 murder.

Exact details of the incident remained sketchy last night as the matter has not been reported to gardai.

However, sources say the attack could lead to increased tensions between dissident republicans and the drugs gang that had Ryan murdered.

The heavily-tattooed 32-year-old thug, whose life has been in danger since Ryan was shot dead, is understood to have been confronted by a dangerous Donaghmede dealer.

A few words were exchanged, a brutal fight ensued and Ryan's pal received a severe hiding.

An upsurge in activities associated with Ryan's mob has been noticed in recent weeks, with some of his closest associates observed walking the streets in what is described as a show of strength.

monitoring

It has also emerged that gardai are monitoring whether the IRA are planning a new terrorist attack despite the fact that most of its senior members are before the courts on serious charges.

Despite this, the mob that had Ryan shot dead in September 2012 thought nothing of beating up his best mate who fled to Dublin's south inner city after the high-profile killing.

The Coolock drugs gang, who are headed up by a so-called Mr Big, continue to be hugely active and are involved in a number of intimidation rackets including one against a bar worker following a dispute over the Christmas period.

It is understood that the drug dealer who beat up Ryan's pal paid €20,000 into a gangland kitty of more than €200,000 organised by north Dublin gangsters who decided to murder the dissident leader because he had been extorting money from them.

Ryan was gunned down in Clongriffin, north Dublin, in broad daylight.

hnews@herald.ie

http://www.pressreader.com/ireland/the-sligo-champion/20150421/281565174298642/TextView

Dissident link to Ballisodare bomb.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0501/698075-sean-connolly-eamon-kelly/

Life sentence for man who murdered drug dealer.

A 35-year-old Dublin man has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of veteran criminal Eamon Kelly in Killester, Dublin two-and-a-half years ago.

Sean Connolly of Bernard Curtis House pleaded guilty earlier this week at the Special Criminal Court.

Kelly, a convicted armed robber and drug dealer, was shot dead at his home on Furry Park Road, Killester on 4 December 2012.

Two other charges of IRA membership and possession of a firearm against Connolly were not proceeded with.

Kelly’s daughter Alison said in a victim impact statement that the brutal and senseless murder destroyed the family’s lives and they still do not know why a much loved father and grandfather was killed.

Investigating gardaí described the killing as a highly professional murder.

Kelly was known to go to a bookmakers in Killester in the mornings and afternoons.

The 65-year-old left Ladbrokes at 4pm on 4 December 2012 to walk home, but his killer met him as he came out of Dun Luce Lane - just 70 metres from his front door.

Kelly ran but he was shot four times in the back.

Officers from the Special Detective Unit arrested Connolly a short time later.

Petrol vapours were detected on his shoes from a burned-out getaway car and firearms residue was found on his person.

Connolly, a Real IRA gunman who was ordered to murder Kelly, has already served terms of four and six years in prison for IRA membership and possession of guns and ammunition.

He admitted he intended to kill Kelly and was sentenced to life in prison.

Kelly's family left the Special Criminal Court this afternoon grateful to gardaí for what they described as a "tireless investigation".

Kelly was shot dead three months after the murder of Real IRA leader Alan Ryan - at a time when there were tensions between gangland criminals and dissident republicans.

He was aware his life was in danger and there had been a previous attempt to shoot him two years before.

Gardaí had consistently warned him of the threats to his life.

Connolly pleaded guilty to the murder but Mr Justice Paul Butler said the court was in no position to acknowledge that plea and had to sentence him to life in prison.

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/commen...s-31202237.html

Davison murder shows North’s criminal gangs no longer fear Provos.

The murder of Gerard ‘Jock’ Davison is the single biggest blow to the IRA stranglehold over Catholic working class areas of the North.

While the perception still exists that the Provisional IRA “controls” areas like west Belfast, the reality has changed almost totally since the days when the IRA could execute or kneecap any suspected drug dealers or “hoods”, the generic term for criminal elements in the city.
The IRA retreated, either into full-time political life with Sinn Féin or into illicit money-making ventures to pay for the increasingly affluent lifestyles of its members. The core of its terrorist operations, once the most lethal and technologically advanced on Earth, has disappeared.
Former Provo bosses are enjoying their new lives away from the narrow backstreets of the lower Falls and the Markets where Davison was shot on Tuesday.
The Provos’ grip on West Belfast effectively ended in March 2008 when a young man, Thomas Valliday, battered the local Provo boss, Frank ‘Bap’ McGreevy, to death in his home in the lower Falls area. McGreevy was one of the few Provos who chose to stay living in the area and died as a result. He had previously been in charge of the local punishment squad.
Valliday’s family felt the full brunt of the IRA’s power in the early 1990s when 70 members of the extended family (Thomas Valliday’s grandparents had 22 children) were forced out of their homes in a mass purge and forced to flee to England.
One of the family, Charlie, then aged 17, was shot 10 times in the legs and arms in December 1988 in one of the worst IRA “punishment” attacks on record in the city.
Thomas Valliday was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009. By coincidence, he escaped from custody last week while on a visit to hospital and was only re-captured on Monday, the day before Davison was shot.
In the two decades before they finally ended the practice in 2004, the IRA “kneecapped” more than 1,000 young men in nationalist areas of the north, the majority in west Belfast. The beatings, which began to replace the shootings, caused even worse damage to victims whose limbs were pulverised and unable to be saved by surgery.
In the aftermath of the murder of the innocent father-of-two Robert McCartney in January 2004, this all stopped. The McCartney sisters’ campaign and then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s personal disgust at the murder and continuing acts of terrible violence towards young men deemed ‘anti-social’ elements brought the punishments and murders to an end.
The exception to the rule of this process of using organised violence to force ‘republican’ social order on their local societies was in south Armagh, where the Provos continued the practice up to October 2007, when the local IRA racketeers beat Paul Quinn to death in October 2007.
As the IRA’s grip on Catholic areas has slipped, the same areas have gone into a form of social freefall, with west Belfast registering the highest levels of deprivation and welfare dependency in the UK.
In a statistical profile of the constituency published in April 2013, a higher proportion of people aged 16 and over living in Belfast West claimed at least one benefit when compared to the NI average (50.7pc compared to 39.8pc).
It has the lowest proportion of students in third-level education; the highest levels of teenage pregnancy; lowest life expectancy; highest levels of respiratory and circulatory disease; and rates of violent crime, burglary, theft and criminal damage are high.
The median age of those living in Belfast West in 2011 was 33, lower than the North’s average of 37.
In other words, west Belfast and, like it, other Catholic working class areas now have the same social profile of the most deprived areas of Dublin and, like those areas, the highest levels of illicit drug taking and associated problems.
The Falls Road, an area which is still difficult for the PSNI to police because of the recurrent threat of dissident republican violence, is said to be the main distribution centre for heroin in Belfast.
The drug is freely available in certain clubs and pubs in nationalist areas, an unimaginable scenario two decades ago.
And the gangs which control the supply of drugs – like their counterparts in Dublin – no longer fear the Provisionals, although none has yet had the audacity to take on the remnants of the Provos head-on. The murder of Jock Davison might have changed that.
While there was relatively little outcry over the murder of the much lesser known Bap McCreevy, Davison – the man who gave the signal to his gang to murder Robert McCartney – was a far more substantial figure in the IRA, close to its top leaders and to Gerry Adams.
Davison’s murder is a watershed moment for the Provisionals, republican sources in Belfast said yesterday. The Provos now face the quandary of how to react: sit back and let the legitimate police force take responsibility, or strike back and reassert their power and influence.
This latter course sets it in direct conflict with both the drugs gangs, who have ready access to their own firepower, and the PSNI.
Critically, sources say the greater Republican Movement, now dominated by its legitimate political wing Sinn Féin, must bear in mind the negative impact a bloody outbreak of IRA violence in Belfast might have on its softer political family in the Republic.
Irish Independent

http://www.thejournal.ie/shooting-ballyfermot-john-wilson-2087806-May2015/

7-year-old girl who saw her father shot dead at her Dublin home describes what happened

A SEVEN YEAR old girl who witnessed her father’s “execution” at their home told gardai that she felt a “little bit sad and a little happy because my dad is away from the bad boys now”, a murder trial has heard.
A Central Criminal Court jury today heard that the girl gave officers a statement, telling them:
I just heard ‘bang bang bang’ – I could see my dad rolling around. I called my da.
Dublin man Keith O’Neill (39) from Lissadell Drive, Drimnagh was arraigned before the Central Criminal Court today.
Dressed in a blue shirt with a navy and white collar, he pleaded not guilty to murdering John Wilson on 28 September 2012 at his home on Cloverhill Road, Ballyfermot Dublin 10.
‘This is an execution of sorts’
Conor Devally SC prosecuting opened the trial for the jury today.
He said that John Wilson was killed when he was at his house on Cloverhill Road in 2012.
“Mr Wilson drew up outside his home in the company of his daughter who was seven years of age and another gentleman who was in front seat,” said Mr Devally.
Graham Dwyer case
Source: PA Wire/Press Association Images
“He nipped into the house to get something and a car drew up behind that of Mr Wilson. From it emerged a person who seemed to be a passenger. He walked up the hall of the house hooded and covered with a scarf,” he said.
Immediately there were heard six short shots – this is an execution of sorts.
Mr Wilson was shot in the back – six bullets were discharged but two of them hit him.
Mr Devally told the court that a car similar to the one described from which the gunman had emerged was set alight and that items were discovered in it including a gun.
The statement by the victim’s daughter
A statement was read to the court that was made by daughter of the deceased who was seven years old at the time.
It read:
My dad picked me up from school – my dad’s friend was with him. I got into the back of the car and was sitting behind my dad.
The three of us went straight to my house – my dad went into the house. When the man went into my house there were two people – one person stayed in the jeep.
“I just heard ‘bang bang bang’ – I could see my dad rolling around. I called my da.
“I feel a little bit sad and a little happy because my dad is away from the bad boys now,” it concluded.
“I couldn’t see his face”
Taking to the stand, Robert McHugh told the court that he was in his sitting room on Cloverhill Road when he heard gunshots at around 1pm on 28 September.
“I remember hearing gun shots and running out and meeting his young daughter,” he said.
Mr McHugh said that upon first hearing the gunshots, he saw a “hooded figure” leaving John Wilson’s house from his own sitting room.
“I leaned back and looked out the window and seen a hooded figure come out the door. I couldn’t see his face – his face was covered,” he said.
I made my way towards the house – his (John Wilson’s) daughter was trying to get into the house. She was upset and I stopped her going into the house. John was lying on the ground struggling to breathe.
When asked how long had elapsed before the ambulance arrived, Mr McHugh said “fifteen to twenty minutes”.
The evidence of a garda
Taking to the stand, Garda Christopher O’Sullivan told Mr Devally that on entering Mr Wilson’s house after a possible shooting, he saw a male receiving CPR.
“We were dispatched to a possible shooting shortly before 3 o’clock. On arrival there was a crowd 15 or 20 people – there was a male receiving CPR from a number of persons,” he said.
Criminal Courts of Justice
Source: PA Archive/Press Association Images
After confirming that an ambulance was en route, Garda O’Sullivan and his colleague attempted CPR.
“He was not breathing – there was no pulse,” he said.
“Dublin fire brigade attended within a matter of minutes. An advanced paramedic from the HSE took over and made a number of attempts,” he continued.
I observed a bullet on the kitchen floor. There were a number of bullet holes throughout the door leading to the kitchen.
The court heard that resuscitation was continuous for over an hour and when there was no change, it was decided to cease resuscitation.
What the State Pathologist had to say
Taking to the stand, State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy told Conor Devally that the fatal injury was the gunshot wound to the chest which injured internal organs.
Mr Devally confirmed with Professor Cassidy that there was still warmth in the body when she arrived but early rigidity had begun.
“There were two gunshot injuries, one to the left arm and one to the chest. The entry wound was adjacent to the elbow – 10cm from the front of the forearm was an irregular exit wound,” she said.
“The significant injury was to the left of the back, 25.5cm below the shoulder and aligned with back of armpit,” she continued.
There was a 6cm diameter hole – the bullet had continued into the body from the left towards the right side into the left chest cavity and lower left lung. The bullet punctured the stomach and spleen,” she said.
“It continued through the liver, out through diaphragm before exiting through the rib cage fracturing the sixth rib. The exit wound was on the right lateral chest wall.”
She added: “The bullet had gone in the left side of the back, come diagonally across and out right side of chest.”
“The absence of soot or powder staining would suggest the gun was not in close proximity to the body,” she said.
She concluded: “The fatal injury was the gunshot wound to the chest which had injured internal organs – he had lost a significant amount of blood.”
Professor Cassidy agreed with Mr Devally that his (Mr Wilson’s) expiry would have been swift.
The trial, which continues tomorrow before a jury of five women and seven men, is expected to last two weeks.