Gardaí question suspect in murder probe

GARDAÍ were last night questioning a man thought to be the main suspect in an underworld murder in Dublin on Thursday.

Mark Byrne, aged 30, of Fettercairn, west Tallaght, was shot three times just a few minutes after he left Mountjoy Jail on a one-day temporary release.

The main suspect walked into Mountjoy station on Thursday night after gardaí spent the evening searching a number of addresses for him.

Detectives had earlier arrested a key associate of the suspect during raids in the Ballymun area, where the suspect comes from.

Gardaí yesterday said suggestions that the suspect had “handed himself in” were misleading.

Sources said the man had not confessed to anything and was “playing a game of chess” by walking into the station. The suspect was immediately arrested and detained under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, which allows for three periods of 24 hours.

The two men’s custody was extended last night and they can be detained until this evening. Gardaí said they were following “a definite line of inquiry” and were receiving good co-operation from eye witnesses.

Mountjoy Prison guards saw the main suspect hanging around the area before Byrne was released. CCTV cameras outside Mountjoy may also have caught the suspect.

The gunman was said to have been wearing a hooded top and a baseball hat at the time of killing, but his face was not disguised.

The shooting took place a few minutes’ walk from Mountjoy Jail on Berkeley Road, beside the Mater Hospital.

Byrne had just come out of a newsagent, where he bought credit for his mobile phone, when he was confronted by the gunman.

The gunman is believed to have shouted abuse at Byrne before opening fire at close range. At least one shot hit the victim in the head. Gardaí believe the shooting was the result of a row between the two men.