BACKGROUND: Lost drug shipment may have been behind violent burglary

A lost drug shipment was suspected of sparking the appalling violence that resulted in a hard-working and loving family “losing everything”.

Detectives gathered information suggesting the gang behind the aggravated burglary of Emma and Mark Corcoran’s home in rural Tipperary almost two years ago needed to recoup money to get their drug business back on track.

John Joyce and his brother Patrick, relations of a notorious family network from Coolock, north Dublin, were the suspected leaders of the seven-man gang, all but one aged just 19 or 20.