Killer may have used back roads in getaway

GARDAÍ searching for the killer of a convicted Cork drugs dealer believe the van used by the gunman avoided main roads during the getaway.

The red Toyota Litace van was found burnt out on the outskirts of the city a few minutes after 41-year-old Gerard ‘Topper’ Staunton was killed with a single shotgun blast to the chest in front of his partner and her two young children.

Gardaí believe the gunman had been lying in wait in a cul-de-sac, a few yards from Mr Staunton’s rented home at Westlawn in Wilton last Wednesday.