THE TOP COP who put gang boss Brian Rattigan behind bars says he is relieved that Ireland's "most evil criminal" won't see the light of day for at least another 20 years.

This week Rattigan lost his appeal for the murder of Declan Gavin, which kicked off the infamous Crumlin-Drimnagh feud that has so far claimed 16 lives.
Denis Donegan, who was the Detective Superintendent in charge of the garda investigation into Rattigan,believes that the streets are far safer now the monster is in a jail cell.

"I was delighted for the whole team when 1 heard the judgement," says Donegan. "I know that Rattigan was very confident that the conviction would be overturned, but the result is a huge boost for the gardai and the complicated investigation we ran to get him jailed for life."Rattigan (33), stabbed 21-year-old Declan Gavin to death outside Abrakebabra in Crumlin in August 2001,after accusing his former pal of being a 'rat' when he escaped prosecution over a drugs seizure.

The pair ran a drugs gang operating in Crumlin, but the murder led to a massive split in the mob and a feud that still rages over 12 years after the slaying.
Donegan says the probe into the murder was one of the most challenging he ever led.
"We soon knew Rattigan was responsible, but there was huge fear in the area because of his dangerous reputation, which was certainly justified," he says.

Intimidated

"Witnesses were intimidated and some even went to jail for six months in order to avoid giving evidence and ending up as his enemy.
"We had great officers involved. The likes of Tom Mulligan, Joe O'Hara and John Doggett did fabulous work initially in building up the case against him in the face of some fierce resistance."

Gardai managed to secure a murder charge against Rattigan, but the case was later thrown out and it looked like the thug might actually get away with the vicious crime.

However, a new Detective Inspector came to work for Donegan and launched a fresh inquiry into the murder. "Brian Sutton came to Crumlin and we studied the feud and knew that if we got a fresh charge against Rattigan we would succeed in taking the sting out of it,

" Donegan says. .

"You have to remember that there were several murders in the year or so after Declan Gavin was killed, including Rattigan's brother Joey in August 2002.
"We started working with the local community and the mothers of some of the feuding criminals to build up a truce.
We made it clear we would offer support once the fighting stopped, but we also stressed that if it continued we would take a zero tolerance approach.
"Our main target was Rattigan. The month after ]oey was shot dead we launched a surprise raid on his house and caught him with €27,000 worth of heroin in a sock.
"It was a massive blow to him and a few months later we also arrested him after he shot at two brave detectives.
"This was enough to get him off the streets and into jail and we immediately started to see the results of our negotiations and a lull in hostilities followed.
"We were still working behind the scenes on the Gavin murder, especially with the forensics Rattigan left at Abrakebabra, and were able to get a new murder charge over the line."

The case came to court in January 2009,but many original witnesses changed their evidence or developed 'amnesia' in the witness box.
Arrest warrants were issued by the judge and it was clear that people were too afraid to step forward and speak against the feared mobster.

However, despite the best efforts of Rattigan, the jury found him guilty of murder, largely due to a fingerprint he had left on the window of Abrakebabra.

"I think what sunk Rattigan was the fact that his alibi was that he was sleeping with a married, older woman, but he wouldn't name here," says Donegan

Hopeful

"He was only 21 at the time and I just don't think the jury believed him and knew deep down he had stabbed Gavin.

Rattigan was hopeful that his appeal against the murder and life sentence would succeed, so gardai set about investigating him for other crimes.
Detective Inspector Brian Sutton, took over from Denis Donegan when he retired at the end of 2009 and managed to get a historic charge against Rattigan for dealing drugs from his prison cell. It was the first time such a charge had ever been brought.

Sutton had organised a raid on the criminal's cell in Portlaoise in 2008 and linked him to the seizure of five kilos of heroin after intercepting messages on his mobile phone. He was convicted at the Special Criminal court two weeks ago and will be sentenced next month.

"That was an amazing investigation. It meant that there was insurance in place if Rattigan had managed to wiggle out of the murder conviction this week. He is now facing 14 years in jail," says Donegan.

"Rattigan was always very active in prison. In fact, we linked him to the murder of Paul Warren in February 2004 through a mobile phone he had in his cell. He directed the hit from prison and was still running his gang from there.

"He was so arrogant that he took chances, but the law and good police work caught up with him in the end".

Last week we revealed how Rattigan and his bitter enemy 'Fat' Freddie Thompson have now been replaced by six gangs operating in Dublin 8 and the pair are now seen as yesterday's men.

None of Rattigan's original gang turned up in court to support him this week and the state would not even pay for Rattigan to travel from Portlaoise prison to court because of the cost of security. His era as a crime lord has now come to an end.

Denis Donegan was one of the most distinguished detectives in the history of the gardai and arrested Malcolm MacArthur in 1982 during the 'GUBU' investigation.
Despite putting dozens of killers behind bars, he regards Rattigan's murder conviction as being his biggest and most satisfying achievement.

Killers

"Brian Rattigan was one of the most ruthless and evil criminals around. People were scared stiff of him and he was utterly determined to get as many rivals as he could in revenge for the murder of his beloved brother ]oey.

Once we got him in jail we were able to put a lid on the feud and lives were saved.
"After this week he will not be a free man for at least 20 years, which is fabulous because I have no doubt he still poses a big danger to society."