Court imposes total of 31 years on four for gangland offences

Four men today received sentences totalling 31-and-a-half years for offences including violent disorder and demanding money with menaces, in the largest tranche of Limerick gangland cases to come before the Special Criminal Court in Dublin.

Christopher McCarthy (aged 28), Gareth Collins Keogh (aged 28) and his father Jimmy Collins (aged 48) were each jailed for seven-and-a-half years for their part in a two-year “campaign” to extract as much as €80,000 from nightclub promoter Mark Heffernan Jr, who has since been placed under 24-hour garda protection.

Presiding judge Mr Justice Paul Butler said the court would also impose a five-year concurrent sentence on Gareth Collins Keogh for violent disorder, after he and three other individuals pursued Mr Heffernan across Limerick city in a high speed car chase.

Patrick Pickford (aged 31) received a four-year sentence with two years suspended for his “lower level involvement” in the affair.

The non-jury court heard evidence that Mr Heffernan was told he was a “dead man” and that has family would be “burned out of Limerick” if he failed to meet the demands of money made against him after his nightclub “West” ran in to difficulties.

Gareth Collins Keogh, of Hyde Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston, pleaded guilty to demanding money with menaces from Mark Heffernan Jr at John Carew Park, Limerick on dates between September 1 and October 25, 2008.

Jimmy Collins and Christopher McCarthy, both of Crecora Avenue, pleaded guilty to demanding money with menaces from Mark Heffernan Jr at John Carew Park on dates between January 22 and February 12, 2009.

The three also pleaded guilty to demanding money with menaces from Mark Heffernan Jr on October 17, 2009 at the Milk Market.

Gareth Collins Keogh additionally pleaded guilty to violent disorder in concert with Gerard Dundon (aged 23), David McCormack (aged 26) and Christopher Mc Cormack (aged 27) at Sarsfield Avenue, Garryowen on February 17, 2010.

Patrick Pickford, of Talbot Avenue, Prospect, pleaded guilty to demanding money with menaces from Mark Heffernan Jr at John Carew Park, Limerick on dates between September 1 and October 25, 2008.

The three-judge court heard that when Gareth Collins Keogh and Patrick Pickford first called to Mark Heffernan’s home, the events promoter overheard a mobile phone conversation in which an unidentified individual told the two men to get out of their car and give Mr Heffernan “a beating”.

Chief Superintendant David Sheehan told Mr Thomas O’Connell SC, prosecuting, that on a subsequent occasion at John Carew Park, Christopher McCarthy called and informed Mr Heffernan that the situation was going to get “messy” if it was not “sorted out” while Jimmy Collins remarked that the men “had done more for less”.

Mark Heffernan told gardaí that Christopher McCarthy, Gareth Collins Keogh and his father Jimmy Collins all paid a visit to his stall at the Milk Market in October 2009, marking what Chief Supt Sheehan described as a clear escalation of the threats.

Chief Supt Sheehan said that the father and son demanded €10,000 from Mr Heffernan within a week or he would be killed, his family “burnt out” and his vehicles taken, while Jimmy Collins said that Mr Heffernan was a “dead man” and his family would be “burned out of Limerick” and every jeep they had taken unless payment was received.

Gareth Collins Keogh then proceeded to head-butt Mr Heffernan and began screaming at him “go fight”, while Jimmy Collins told Mr Heffernan that he was “going to be got” and that he was a “dead man”.

Chief Supt Sheehan said that while Christopher McCarthy did not make any remark during the incident and simply stood nearby with his hands in his pockets, all three men shouted that they were going to get a gun and come back as they walked away from the scene.

In a later incident, Mr Heffernan described to gardaí how he was pursued at high speed across Limerick city in a car driven by a Gareth Collins Keogh and a three other men, armed with what he believed were hammers or black bars.

Mr Justice Paul Butler said that the Oireachtas regarded demanding money with menaces as a very serious offence and it was clear that there was a “campaign” to seek the return of monies from Mr Heffernan.

He said all sentences would be backdated to April 2010, when all four men, who have over 140 previous convictions between them, went in to custody.