General’s widow to fight CAB claim on home

THE wife of notorious crime boss Martin Cahill has arrived back home to fight attempts by the State to seize their plush home in leafy south Dublin.

Frances Cahill moved back into the detached house in Cowper Downs, Rathmines, last week, three weeks before a court hearing to determine the future of the General’s home, estimated to be worth around €700,000.

The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) has applied to the High Court for an order to seize 17 Cowper Downs, along with two other properties.

The General’s lover - and Frances’s younger sister - Tina Lawless is still living in one of the properties, 21 Swan Grove, Ranelagh, a short distance from Cowper Downs.

A third property - at 40 Dolphins Barn, in the south inner city - is dilapidated and was an old aviary where pigeon enthusiast Cahill kept many of his birds.

CAB will argue in the court that the three properties were bought with the proceeds of crime.

Mrs Cahill, 48, lived with her husband and their five children at Cowper Downs until the General was assassinated in 1994 by the Provisional IRA.

Cahill had spent much of his time with Tina Lawless and their four children in an open ménage à trois at Swan Grove.

The General’s gang - specialists in armed robberies and art heists - was eventually brought down by a massive garda operation.

Mrs Cahill had been living in a council housing estate in Birkshire in England for the past three years.

She and her sister are expected to contest the CAB application on November 30, claiming they did not know of the General’s criminal activities.