Gardaí put up posters at scene of Cork shooting appealing for information on Aidan O’Driscoll murder

Don’t be afraid to come forward if you were a witness to the murder of Aidan O’Driscoll in Cork city.

Don’t be afraid to come forward if you were a witness to the murder of Aidan O’Driscoll in Cork city.

That is the message from gardaí to members of the public today, as they start a poster appeal for witnesses to the December 7 shooting in Blackpool to help them.

Gardaí believe there are many witnesses who were in the Old Commons Road area when the 37-year-old former Real IRA leader was gunned down after being dropped in the area by colleagues on their way home from work.

The Ballyvolane man was on his way to a painting and decorating job in a nearby house when he was gunned down just before 5pm.

Two large posters appealing for information on the killing are being erected at the shooting scene on Old Commons Road, as gardaí probe the possibility that the hit was ordered by local enemies.

Posters looking for information on the murder of Aidan O’Driscoll in Blackpool. Pic: Eddie O’Hare

The move is a departure from traditional appeals for information to the public but gardaí said they want to appeal to people who were in the area at the time of the killing to help them in the investigation.

Investigating officers originally considered the possibility that the dead man’s past in Limerick and Dublin could have held the key to his killing. However, investigators now believe the killing was organised in Cork.

A red Opel Astra car, believed to have been used to whisk the killers away to the Killeens area shortly after the murder, was found burnt-out just days before Christmas in a ravine in an isolated area between Nadd and Rylane. Gardaí believe local knowledge was needed by the gang to organise dumping the car there.

It was only spotted by a local landowner but cannot be retrieved from the ravine because it is too deep.

The getaway car used in the murder, a silver Nissan Almera with the registration number 01 TS 1312, was in the general Blackpool area for a number of hours prior to the killing. That car was found burnt-out at Redemption Road. The gunmen abandoned and set fire to a white Vauxhall Astra van, registered 99 G 12357, in Killeens after the killing, before fleeing in the waiting red Opel Astra.

Gardaí are also appealing for anyone who saw a black Toyota Avensis between 2pm and 5pm in the Blackpool area or Killeens on the same day.

Anyone with information is asked to contact gardaí in Anglesea Street on [phone].

This article first appeared in today’s Evening Echo.