Known criminal executed in gangland feud

LIMERICK’S gangland feud has claimed another life on the eve of the trial of five men charged with the murder of crime boss Kieran Keane.

A known criminal, named locally as Michael Campbell-McNamara, aged 23, was executed on Sunday night and his body discovered yesterday morning. He was found with his hands and feet tied and a bullet wound to the head.

The latest killing heightened security tensions in the city ahead of the Keane murder trial today. Keane, aged 36, was shot dead in a similar execution-style killing at Drombana last January two miles from yesterday's grim discovery.

The trial takes place at the Central Criminal Court in Limerick. Recent gangland murders in Limerick appear to coincide with Central Criminal Court sessions the last killing, which claimed the life of John Ryan in July, came on the eve of the first sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Limerick.

The body of Michael Campbell-McNamara was found dumped in a ditch in a field at the back of the Southill estate on the southside of the city.

The discovery was made by a man walking his dog shortly before 10 am yesterday. He alerted nearby construction workers who were carrying out work on the nearby Limerick by-pass road.

"I saw him running up towards us and he was in an awful way. He asked me if I had a phone to ring the guards because there was a body in the field. It's lucky that children are all back at school now or else it could have been one of them who found the body," a construction worker said at the scene yesterday.

The victim, who had served time for previous convictions, was originally from the Southill area, but had recently been living in the Dublin Road area of Limerick. Gardaí said it was unclear whether he was killed at the scene or whether he was murdered elsewhere before his body was dumped in the field.

Garda sources said the victim had close associations with one of the factions involved in a well-publicised feud in the city.

This feud, largely based on the city's northside, has claimed three lives in as many years. However, it's understood the dead man was involved in a separate dispute with other factions in the Southill area.

It's believed he had recently armed himself with a high-powered weapon which gardaí believe could have been used in the ongoing feud.