Two senior Kinahan gang figures jailed in UK

Two senior figures in the Kinahan Organised Crime Group have been jailed in the UK for their part in a conspiracy to stockpile guns and ammunition so that one of them, Thomas Kavanagh, could get a lighter sentence for drug smuggling.

Kavanagh, 57, with an address in Tamworth in England, his brother-in law Liam Byrne, 43, from Crumlin, the head of the Kinahan gang in Dublin and 38-year-old Shaun Kent from Liverpool all pleaded guilty.

Kavanagh was sentenced to six years in prison to be served consecutively to his existing 21 year sentence. Byrne was sentenced to five years in prison while Kent was jailed for six years.

Judge Philip Katz said the one overarching criminal plan was designed to help Kavanagh with his sentencing. The means chosen was to put together a cache of guns to fool the National Crime Agency and then to fool the judge sentencing Kavanagh for drugs trafficking.

The judge also said that even though the guns were collected for the conspiracy and not for general purposes, these were category one offences, the most serious kind for sentencing.

The three men, he said, were involved in the collection of as many highly dangerous weapons as possible to be sourced and paid for through networks of very serious criminals.

Kavanagh was at the heart of the conspiracy and although in prison "able to pull the strings".

The judge also said that the three can serve half their sentences in custody, which means that Byrne will be released on licence after two-and-a-half years.

Kent has already spent more than three years in custody.

Detective Chief Superintendent Séamus Boland, head of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, welcomed the sentences.

He said: "The sentences received by Thomas Kavanagh and Liam Byrne, in particular, are welcome and I commend our colleagues at the National Crime Agency, for their determination for justice to be delivered in this case.

"This particular investigation highlights how organised crime groups will use their vast illicit resources in an effort to corrupt the legal process. Convictions like these, although taking place in the United Kingdom, have a significant impact on the organised crime landscape in Ireland.

"We continue to work in unison with our international partners in tackling the primary organised crime networks who negatively impact on our communities."