Man wanted for dissident murder held in Spain

THE widow of a dissident republican who was shot dead five years ago is relieved that a man who had been charged with his murder was arrested in Spain after 15 months on the run.

Dubliner Dean Evans (27) was one of three men charged in connection with the murder of father-of-three Peter Butterly (35) on March 6 2013.

But days before he was due

Dean Evans (left) was arrested in Spain. Right, gun victim Peter Butterly to face trial in January 2017, Evans disappeared along with his girlfriend Stacey Roche. She had previously been the girlfriend of slain Real IRA chief Alan Ryan (32) who was shot dead in 2012.

The Special Criminal Court in Dublin issued a warrant for the arrest of Evans, of Grange Park Rise, Raheny, after he failed to appear to face trial in January last year.

Yesterday he was arrested in the company of Roche in Fuengirola. Roche was not arrested.

Speaking about the arrest of Evans, Peter Butterley’s widow Eithne said she had waited for this day for a long time.

“I knew this day would come, and I have waited patiently. I had full faith in the gardai. I was very emotional when I heard the news. I was shaking and crying,” she added.

Evans, along with Edward McGrath (35) and Sharif Kelly (46), was due to stand trial on charges connected with the murder of Butterly (35), who was shot dead in the car park of the Huntsman Inn, Gormanston, Co Meath.

Kelly, of Pinewood Green Road, Balbriggan, and McGrath, of Lanndale Lawns, Springfield, Tallaght, were both sentenced to life in prison for murder after they were tried in the absence of Evans.

Evans will remain in detention in Spain while his extradition back to Ireland is organised, a progress that could take two to three weeks.