'Scourge of Sligo' jailed for 11 years for directing organised crime gang involved in drugs

Defendant dispatched enforcers he described as 'head-the-balls' and 'Dirty Harrys' to collect on drug debts, a sentencing hearing was told

Defendant pleaded guilty at the Special Criminal Court court that he, between October 4, 2019, and January 15, 2022, both dates inclusive, directed the activities of a criminal organisation.

A Sligo criminal who was a "scourge" on his community for years with his drugs operation has been jailed for 11 years by a judge at the Special Criminal Court.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt said Barry Young, 38, could have faced 16 years or more had he not pleaded guilty to the charge of directing a criminal organisation. 

The judge noted Young has said he wanted to turn his life around but Mr Justice Hunt said he had to punish Young to act as a deterrent to others and to mark the gravity of the social consequences of organised criminal activity.

Mr Justice Hunt said Young's gang was "smaller in scope, size and geography" than others that have come before the courts in recent years and, he said, "the violence used did not reach the same level as those other organisations". 

There are more serious gangs, the judge said, and Young's gang was itself answerable to more serious gangs. But Mr Justice Hunt said he did not want to "understate the destructiveness" of Young's activities on the people of Sligo. 

He described Young as a "scourge on the people of Sligo for a number of years" and he noted evidence that a relatively small community in the west of Ireland was "burdened by four such gangs".

Mr Justice Hunt set the headline sentence at 16 years but due to mitigating factors, including Young's early guilty plea, he reduced that to 12 years. He suspended the final 12 months for four years after his release on the condition that Young keep the peace and be of good behaviour for that period. 

The judge said the purpose of the suspension was to acknowledge he is young enough to emerge back into the community and he wants to incentivise Young's promises that he would "turn his life in a different direction".

Guilty plea

Father-of-two Young, with a previous address at Geldof Drive, Cranmore, Co Sligo, pleaded guilty at the non-jury court that he, between October 4, 2019, and January 15, 2022, both dates inclusive, directed the activities of a criminal organisation both within and outside the State, contrary to Section 71 A of the Criminal Justice Act, 2006, as inserted by Section 5 of the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act, 2009.

Following the sentence, Chief Supt Aidan Glacken told the media outside court that "Barry Young has been involved in the sale and distribution of controlled drugs for the last 20 years.

"He directed and controlled a very large organised crime gang involved in an illegal business in the North-West of the country and this gang had substantial international links.

In the pursuit of greed and in the pursuit of money, this organised crime gang has caused much harm, much stress, much destruction to society and families through their reckless nature.

"Many of those families have suffered from violence, threats and intimidation which is unacceptable in today's society."

Previous hearings

At a previous hearing, the court heard drug seizures linked to the gang totalled over €628,000, while Young himself had €40,000 in ready cash despite his only stated income being social welfare payments. 

Young also dispatched enforcers he described as "head-the-balls" and "Dirty Harrys" to collect on drug debts, a sentencing hearing was told.

At a previous hearing Detective Garda Inspector Ray Mulderrig told Fiona Murphy SC, for the State, that Young was arrested by detectives from Sligo at Dublin Airport on January 11, 2022, on his way to Spain in a bid to escape his life of crime and drug-debts.

The court heard the investigation revealed a high level of communication regarding drug-debt enforcement and the names and addresses of debtors. Det Insp Mulderrig said while violence and threats were used, violence was the option "least preferred by Barry Young".

The detective said investigations of five phones associated with Young led to the arrest of 16 people, six of whom are before the courts, with three of those facing charges of organised crime involvement and money laundering directly attributed to the gang.

After Young's January 2022 arrest in Dublin Airport, searches in the Sligo area found €36,360 in cash, €145,250 worth of cannabis, €11K worth of cocaine and €4,500 worth of valium and diazepam linked to the gang.

Phone data also revealed drug-debt enforcement involved Young sending individuals to private homes to commit criminal damage and demand money in Sligo and Galway. 

Young described the debt collectors in messages as "head-the-balls", "Dirty Harrys", "Russian fellas", "mental" and "crazy" dispatched to "fix" debts owed.