Criminal demanded €40k or son ‘would die’

A Dublin criminal who told a family to hand over €40,000 or they would be burying their son within three days, has been jailed for four years at Sligo Circuit Court.

Julian O’Connor, aged 38, St Brigid’s Rd, Artane, Dublin, was part of a three-man gang who told the Gormley family from Carrowgaveen, Coolaney, on January 14, 2013, that if the money was not paid within two days, they would be burying their adult son Barry on the third day. In jailing O’Connor for five years, with the last year suspended for three years, Judge Keenan Johnson said it was an appalling “shakedown” on the Gormley family and it had a devastating effect on them.

In a victim impact statement, the family told an earlier sitting the death threat to their son and brother was to “change our family forever”.