Crime World

Five murders carried out in a tiny area of Belfast and just a few streets apart bare chillingly similar hallmarks when it comes to the up close and personal style of the assassinations, the escape routes taken on foot through the Lenadoon estate and the activities of the victims. Today we visit the crime scenes with Belfast Telegraph Crime Correspondent Allison Morris who believes the wave of gang...

A criminal serving two sentences for involvement in an attempted gangland murder and a shooting of an innocent man has now pleaded guilty to his role in the murder of notiorious mobster Mark’ Guinea Pig’ Desmond eight years ago. Charles McClean from Clondalkin is serving 16 and a half years for facilitating the botched murder of criminal Wayne Whelan who was later shot dead and the doorstep killin...

Court sketch artist Mike O’Donnell attended the trial of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch at the Special Criminal court and was there the day he walked free. But inspired by his craggy face and interesting expressions the Kerry artist decided to go another step and his exhibition entitled ‘Released’ is set to open this week in Tralee. The artist sat with Hutch in the weeks after he was released and was allo...

High flying big spending John Coone and his wife Pamela lorded it up in their small community splashing their cash on holidays, fast cars and flash jewellery. But the couple who were also claiming social welfare have fallen foul of the Criminal Assets Bureau and he has been named as the leader of a West Cork drugs gang. The pair from Bandon in County Cork tried to hide their dirty money through a...

Sixty eight year old William Finlay was sentenced this week for a minimum of 20 years for murdering his former partner at her County Antrim home in the first case using new domestic abuse legislation. But is the sentence long enough for the life of retired nurse and grandmother Alyson Nelson who at 64 underwent a ‘vicious, unrelenting’ attack motivated by jealousy. Nicola speaks with Belfast...

Corrupt cop John ‘Spud’ Murphy intervened in a property dispute between a financier and a suspected criminal and allegedly asked for £5,000 for himself and £5,000 for a serving officer, police investigating him for corruption have been told. The disgraced former Superintendent who is currently serving a jail term after he was caught with over a quarter of a million euro worth of cannabis will be a...

The death of Ian Bailey brings to an end his role as a celebrity suspect in the tragic murder of Sophie Toscan Du Plantier. Convicted in a French court of her brutal killing yet still an innocent man under Irish law the life and death of Bailey has been as complex as the murder inquiry that put the West Cork village of Schull on the international map. Today Niall Donald asks Nicola about her own i...

Fears are growing of a bloody revenge attack after the funeral of Christmas Eve gun victim Jason Hennessy. The father of six was buried last weekend in an ‘Incredible Hulk’ themed funeral which was attended by hundreds of friends and family as well as the criminal fraternity. Three busloads of public order Gardaí were brought in along with Armed Support units to patrol the area during the service...

A fascinating study of the Bugsy Malones, the gang of children led by a young Gerry The Monk Hutch in Dublin in the 1970s has found that the State let down the north inner city youngsters over and over again. Criminology lecturer Dr Ciara Molloy conducted research into the phenomenon of the youth subculture labelled by the media and treated like hardened criminals. Nicola speaks with Ciara who is...

***ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN APRIL 2021*** It reads like a script from an Agatha Christie murder mystery – a beautiful young French woman bludgeoned to death at her idyllic holiday home, a shocked community who fear there is a killer amongst them and a struggling police force who find more questions than answers. Twenty-five years since the body of Sophie Toscan du Plantier was discovered discarded...

Veteran criminal Martin ‘The Viper’ Foley has spent countless hours in courtrooms over the course of his 73 year career. He has appeared both as an accused, during the numerous criminal cases against him, but also as a victim in a rake of civil actions he has taken against others. Recently he agreed that his privacy claims against the State, the Attorney General, the Garda Siochana, the Justice Mi...

When journalist Hugh Jordan saw a familiar face pop up speaking at an anti immigration protest in a south Belfast housing estate he had to investigate further. And to his surprise the woman interviewed on the BBC saying she wanted no outsiders moving into her area had a very sinister past. Nicola speaks to Hugh about an extraordinary tale that brought him from a short news report into one of the d...

The clock is ticking on murder accused Sean McGovern’s freedom in the United Arab Emirates as the Irish Government and Gardai move in for the next step in the takedown of the Kinahan Cartel. McGovern was named during sanctions in April 2022 but has remained at large in Dubai despite a warrant for his arrest. Nicola speaks with Niall Donald about McGovern and his significance as the chief advisor t...

Criminal Jonathan Harding AKA Rocketman has been released from prison after serving his time for his role in Bomber Kavanagh’s weapons HQ busted in 2017. Harding a trusted member of the Cartel’s Dublin outfit cut a lonely figure as he walked his dog near his Crumlin home in recent weeks with most of his associates locked up and many facing lengthy sentences both here and abroad. So what is next fo...

High end designer watches costing tens of thousands of euro are often used as a currency in the underworld where fakes and real timepieces change hands every day. But legitimate buyers too collect the desirable pieces and increasingly their value has left their owners vulnerable to being targeted by ruthless criminals with ever more discerning eyes. So how is the watch market protecting itself fro...

The funeral has taken place of Christmas Eve steakhouse shooter Tristan Sherry who was overcome after murdering rival Jason Hennessy Snr and stabbed to death in the packed restaurant. A large police presences monitored the event in Dublin while tensions remain high in the run up to the funeral of Hennessy Snr this weekend. Nicola speaks with Niall Donald about the funeral and about the on-going se...

A man on the run since 2006 has been landed a hefty jail term after he was discovered on an Encrochat investigation transporting drugs for underworld drug gangs including the notorious McCarthy mob in Limerick. Anthony Terry escaped a jail term at Limerick Prison after claiming he was terrified by drugs mobs into moving narcotics because of threats to his family at the height of the Limerick...

The murder of notorious crime gang member Kevin Conway in West Belfast this week has sinister similarities to a number of other assassinations in the North with suggestions that one hitman may now be responsible for seven deaths. Conway, a member of the feared Firm outfit, was shot dead at the doorway of his bail address where he was living as he awaited trial for the murder of Shane Whitla in Lur...

The Gangster known as ‘Mr Flashy’ is under pressure from police over firearms discovered during a raid on his headquarters a number of years ago. His arrest could bring to the end the reign of the young gun who has led a dangerous grouping through a series of feuds over the past 10 years. Despite being just 30 years of age ‘Flashy’ has blazed a trail through gangland as much on social media as on...

A Wicklow man who was known as ‘Libertas’ on line is set for release from a notorious US federal prison after serving a sentence for his role in the Silk Road marketplace. Gary Davis is expected to return to his native Kilpedder in County Wicklow when he tastes freedom for the first time in six years as he is released from Hazelton correctional facility. Nicola speaks with Eamon Dillon about the S...

Three men have now been charged in relation to the death of gunman Tristan Sherry on Christmas Eve during shocking scenes at a Dublin restaurant. One man has been released without charge while the investigation continues. Neither Sherry nor his victim Jason Hennessy Snr’s remains have been returned to their families yet despite 17 days passing since the incident. Nicola speaks with Niall Donald ab...

Kinahan Cartel associate and CAB target Dean Masterson enjoyed a lavish wedding ceremony in recent weeks and has now jetted off to Mexico for his honeymoon. The recently released mortgage fraudster who was working as a milkman in Dublin picked up a hefty tab at the exclusive Ballymagarvey Village venue and entertained friends and family in style. Masterson was suspected of running the Kinahan payr...

Cocaine cowboy Liam Byrne appeared in the Old Bailey Court this week via video link from the notorious Belmarsh Prison where he will be kept until his trial for firearms later this year. Byrne and his brother in law Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh along with four others are facing charges emanating from the Encrochat phone hack which the prosecution alleges involves a plot to hand over firearms to the UK...

Gangland heavy Bernard Fogarty died in his cell in Portlaoise Prison last week after a chaotic life that saw him openly threaten his rivals on his social media sites. The notorious hitman who was serving life for the murder of Barry Wolverson was considered one of Dublin’s most feared assassins before his own actions saw him eventually taken off the streets. Nicola and Niall Donald discuss the lif...

A Christmas Eve nightmare in a popular Dublin restaurant. Two men dead and fears that reprisals will follow. So why did gunman Tristan Sherry decide to walk into a crowded steakhouse and shoot at victim Jason Hennessy Snr with a semi automatic weapon? What horrors did diners see as he was then overcome and killed in cold blood? Who is Hennessy Snr? A veteran gangster or a latecomer to the gangland...