Getaway driver in bouncer murder gets life

THE driver of the getaway vehicle used in the killing of Limerick bouncer Brian Fitzgerald outside his family home five years ago was yesterday given a life sentence for his role in the crime.

Two other men allegedly involved in plotting the murder were acquitted at the end of an 18-day trial at the Central Criminal Court in Cloverhill.

Gary Campion, aged 24, of Pineview Gardens, Moyross, was given a mandatory life sentence having being found guilty of Mr Fitzgerald’s murder on November 29, 2007, by the unanimous verdict of an all-male jury.

The jury also returned a “not guilty” verdict against Anthony Kelly, a 50-year-old furniture dealer from Cragg House, Kilrush, Co Clare. An hour later, the jury concluded its deliberations as it found another accused, Dessie Dundon, aged 23, of Ballinacurra, Weston, Co Limerick, “not guilty” by a majority verdict.

The victim’s widow, Alice Fitzgerald, rushed from the courtroom in tears as the final verdict was read out. She jumped into a waiting Garda car without comment and did not make herself available for a victim impact statement at the hearing.

A fourth man, Dundon’s older brother, John, aged 27, was acquitted of the charge last Friday on the direction of the judge who said there was no evidence linking him to the crime.

Mr Fitzgerald was murdered outside his home at Brookhaven Walk, Mill Road, Corbally, at around 3.50am after returning from Doc’s nightclub where he worked as head of security. It is believed he was targeted by a Limerick gang for refusing to allow drugs to be sold at the club.

The 34-year-old father-of-two was shot in the head by Birmingham criminal James Martin Cahill who is serving a life sentence for the murder. Cahill, who named the four accused men as accomplices, was the main prosecution witness.

While his evidence that Campion had driven him to and from the murder scene on a motorbike was supported indirectly by CCTV evidence and several witnesses, including a number of taxi drivers, Cahill’s claims linking Kelly and Dessie Dundon to the killing were uncorroborated by any other evidence put to the jury.

Outside the court, Kelly’s solicitor, Eugene O’Kelly, expressed anger that his client had been held in custody for almost a year since first being charged.

“It is quite extraordinary that this man’s freedom has been denied to him for the past year on the rantings and the ramblings of a demented psychopath,” he said.

The trial heard that two other men, who cannot be named for legal reasons, are also likely to face a charge of murdering Mr Fitzgerald. Both men are serving prison sentences abroad.