Suspect arrested after gang shooting

GARDAÍ yesterday arrested a man suspected of setting up the latest gangland murder victim, the sixth such murder this year.

Aidan Byrne, 33, and a father-of-one, was shot up to 10 times with a semi-automatic handgun as he sat in the passenger side of a parked car on Saturday night.

Senior officers are linking his murder to a violent feud in Dublin’s north inner city, which has claimed at least four lives to date.

The Garda investigation team made speedy progress after Byrne’s murder and yesterday afternoon tracked down the man suspected of driving him to the planned murder scene.

Byrne, a well-known gangland figure, was the passenger in the car which drove into the Drumalee Court local authority housing estate, just off the North Circular Road.

The car, a dark grey Toyota Corolla, which was not stolen, stopped at a cul-de-sac on Drumalee Avenue, with the passenger side facing a laneway.

Garda spokesman Superintendent John Gilligan said they believed the gunman was “laying in wait for the victim” and that, sometime between 8.30pm and 8.45pm, he approached the passenger door and fired a number of shots, before fleeing down the laneway.

A leading gang figure lives nearby, but there is no evidence to suggest he is linked with the murder.

Gardaí issued an initial description of the shooter. He is described as being between 5ft 9in-5ft 11in, possibly 6ft, in height. He is said to be of thin build and wore a grey hoody, with the hood up, and either grey jeans or tracksuit bottoms.

Supt Gilligan said the suspected killer fled down the laneway into an open area, where he could have taken a number of escape routes.

Detectives yesterday arrested the 29-year-old suspected driver and took him to Bridewell Garda Station for questioning. He is being detained under section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007, which allows for a possible detention period of seven days. Byrne, originally from Oriel Street in the north inner city, had an address in nearby St Mary Mansions flat complex. He was involved in robberies, drugs and gun crime and had served a six-year sentence for raping two prostitutes in a brothel.

Garda sources said he knew he was in danger and gardaí had repeatedly warned him of threats to his life. He was recently charged with burglary and was being held on remand in Cloverhill Prison. He was subjected to a vicious attack there in which he was badly slashed. He was released around two weeks ago after applying for bail.

The inner city feud centres around a local gang boss who raped his partner’s daughter. The abuse split a large gang into two camps, based around two extended families and their associates.

The feud claimed its first life in December 2006, when 25-year-old Gerard Batt-Byrne was gunned down. He was linked to the rival camp to the gang boss.

Two weeks later, in a botched revenge attack, Stephen Ledden, 28, was shot dead in a house on Oriel Street. His attackers mistakenly shot him as they targeted another man. Byrne’s murder could be linked to Ledden’s.

In April 2008, Anthony Russell, 30, from Kilmore, north Dublin, was shot dead in a pub in Artane. He was linked to the gang boss.

* Anyone with information is asked to contact the Bridewell Garda Station at 01-6668200 or the Garda Confidential Line at 1800-666-111.