Lengthy informative article.. rbbm.
Murdered and mutilated: Keane Mulready-Woods and the teenagers of gangland
Conor Lally Security and Crime Editor
''The first signs of concern came from Mulready-Woods’s sister, Courtney, who posted an appeal for information on Facebook on Monday afternoon, saying she was concerned about him adding, “he’s only 17”.
Within hours, just before 10pm on Monday, the teenager’s limbs were found in a black sports bag on a pavement on Moatview Drive, Darndale, north Dublin; nearly 50km from where he was last seen alive. And at about 1.30am on Wednesday morning, a bag containing a head, hands and feet were found in a burnt-out blue Audi S40 in a lane off Clonliffe Ave in Dublin’s north inner city.
A major investigation got under way into the murder, and a house in Drogheda was sealed off on Tuesday night as a suspected crime scene; possibly the location of Keane’s murder and the dismembering of his body.
His is the third murder in the Drogheda feud. It is thought to be revenge for the murder in Bettystown, Co Meath, last November of drug dealer Richard Carberry. One of Carberry’s close associates is regarded as a volatile criminal who was bent on avenging the 2019 killing. He was also recently assaulted by Keane Mulready-Woods’s young associates.''
''Keane Mulready-Woods had attended St Oliver’s Community College in Drogheda. He loved dogs, riding his bicycle around Drogheda and also had a passion for motorbikes; he was a keen scrambler who took part in some races.
However, the 17-year-old was also part of a new wave of young criminals coming through the ranks of Irish organised crime. His short time in the world of crime, the manner of his death and the reasons he was killed and his body mutilated reflect a rapidly changing underworld in Ireland.''
Keane Mulready-Woods was one of those young men who jumped straight into drugs gang affiliation. He was a suspect for petrol bombings on houses in Drogheda, attacks that have characterised the feud there since 2018.
He was convicted, and given a four-month suspended sentence last month, after running a campaign of intimidation against a family in Drogheda. He had been officially warned by gardaí in recent weeks that his life was in danger. Gardaí say there was a specific threat to abduct, murder and dismember him.
Even the clothing he disappeared in offers an insight into the trappings on offer for those boys willing to do the dirty work for drugs gangs. He wore expensive designer labels: Hugo Boss, Burberry and Canada Goose. He also had access to a range of motorbikes. This is despite having no legitimate income and coming from a disadvantaged background.''
''Several other gardaí who spoke to The Irish Times believe the decision to dismember Mulready-Woods and scatter his remains in Dublin was intended as a chilling message to the rival drugs gang. They see it as a “Kinahan-style” bid to make the stakes so high that their rivals would never seek to compete. If you even try, you will be annihilated, is the message.''
