Mallow shooting: 'Bosco' O'Connor had litany of crimes in past decades

A garda at the scene after 'Bosco' O'Connor's body was discovered in Mallow. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

The man who was shot dead in an execution-style killing on the banks of the River Blackwater outside Mallow, Co Cork, was a suspected member of a notorious armed robbery gang that stole from homes and businesses at gunpoint in the 1990s and 2000s.

Paul ‘Bosco’ O’Connor, 56, was found deadtarget="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> last Thursday by someone walking along the riverbank at Ballyellis, on the outskirts of Mallow town. It is understood he suffered gunshot wounds to the head and that a shotgun was used in the killing.

A man in his 30s was arrested on Monday in connection with Mr O’Connor’s death. He was being detained at a Garda station in the Southern Region under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007 on Tuesday evening and can be held for up to seven days for questioning.

The army were assisting gardaí on Tuesday with a search of open fields and woodland that surround the murder site on the secluded riverbank. The Garda sub-aqua unit were also searching the river on Tuesday for any potential evidence.

The gun used in the killing has not yet been found, it is understood.

Mr O’Connor, who was from Con­nolly Road in Ballyphehane on the southside of Cork City, was known for abusing drugs for many years but his life had reportedly “fallen apart” before his death and that he was using drugs quite heavily.

Although one of line of inquiry has been whether he owed a drug debt, it is suspected that he was a drug user rather than a major drug supplier.

Litany of crimes

Mr O’Connor was known for armed robbery and for violence approximately 20 to 30 years ago. He was closely linked to a notorious armed robber called Niall Fitzpatrick, also aged in his 50s, and from Cork City.

Mr Fitzpatrick is known as ‘Houdini’ after escaping custody multiple times.

It is suspected that Mr O’Connor was linked to an armed robbery of a jewellery shop in Kinsale at Halloween in the early 2000s, when a gang of armed men came to the door wearing costumes to masquerade as Halloween pranksters, forcing the shop worker to hand over valuable stock.

He is also suspected of links to an armed robbery at a bank in Skibbereen, West Cork, and separately, with assaulting a garda and conducting an armed robbery at a Cork hospital.

In 1993, Mr O’Connor and Mr Fitzpatrick were sentenced together for an armed robbery offence and for seriously assaulting an off-duty garda, it has been reported.

Mr O’Connor was jailed for five years and Mr Fitzpatrick was jailed for seven years after both men pleaded guilty to armed robbery of £8,367 from Cork Regional Hospital on March 6, 1992.

They also pleaded guilty to wounding Sergeant John O’Sullivan on July 13, 1992, with intent to maim, disable, or disfigure him, the Sunday World reported.

Sgt O’Sullivan was given emergency surgery for a punctured lung when stabbed in the back. The assault took place in a pub and neither of the defendants, who were drunk, knew he was a garda. 

One of Mr O’Connor’s most recent convictions is from 2009, when he was sentenced to six months in prison for possession of stolen property. It is also understood that he was involved in the robbery of a bookmakers in Douglas in 2009.

One legal source said that Mr O’Connor had been regularly seen before the courts in relation to certain forms of criminality back in the 1990s and early 2000s, but he had not been before the courts for many years.

Mr O’Connor was unmarried and had no children. He has a brother and sisters.

Last movements

Before his death, gardaí believe that Mr O’Connor took the train from Kent Station in Cork City to Mallow on Wednesday, October 14, arriving after 7.20pm.

He was wearing a dark green hooded jacket, khaki-coloured combat trousers and black runners.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Mallow Garda Station on 022 31450, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800-666-111, or any garda station.