Dublin ‘New IRA’ leader is jailed for murder

THE leader of the so-called New IRA in Dublin has been jailed for life for the murder of another dissident republican almost six years ago.

Kevin Braney (44), of Glenshane Crescent, Tallaght, was found guilty by the Special Criminal Court last Monday of the “premeditated” murder of Peter Butterly (35). Butterly was gunned down outside The Huntsman Inn in Co Meath on March 6, 2013.

Following sentencing Braney (right) showed little reaction before he was led away by prison officers.

The victim’s widow Eithne said: “Kevin Braney murdered Peter to boost his own ego, but it’s him the gardai were monitoring. It’s him that got everyone caught. It’s because of him that three others are also serving life just like him. “The evidence heard in the first trial was that at the time he organised the murder, his instructions to the killers were ‘box him in and empty it into him’. Well look who is boxed-in now, starting a life sentence,” she added. “Braney is a coward.

“He couldn’t even look at me in the court as I read out my victim impact statement.”

Delivering judgment last Monday at the non-jury court, Mr Justice Paul Coffey, presiding, said the court was driven “irresistibly” to conclude Braney was involved in the organisation and planning of Mr Butterly’s murder beyond a reasonable doubt.

In 2018 Braney was sentenced to four years after he was found guilty of IRA membership by the Special Criminal Court.

He had threatened an accident victim that he was in the IRA and would shoot him if he did not withdraw a claim against a former employer.