Kinahan gangsters plead not guilty to firearms charges
Byrne and Kavanagh at Old Bailey
TOP Kinahan cartel mobsters Liam Byrne and Thomas Kavanagh have pleaded not guilty to firearms and conspiracy charges.
Appearing before a sitting of London’s Old Bailey yesterday, Dubliner Liam Byrne, 43, pleaded not guilty to numerous charges of conspiracy to possess firearms and ammunition.
His brother-in-law Kavanagh, 56, meanwhile also pleaded not guilty to firearms and ammunition charges – as well as a charge to pervert the course of justice.
Both men appeared via video link from top security prison HMP Belmarsh.
Between them and co-accused men Shaun Kent, 37, and Daniel Mcloughlin, 36, they face a total of 17 charges.
Kavanagh and Kent are accused of conspiring with Liam Byrne, Jack Kavanagh, 23, and Peadar Keating, 42, to commit a “series of acts, namely to possess firearms and thereafter hide them to reveal their whereabouts to the National Crime Agency”.
The court heard it is alleged they did so in order to try and enable Thomas Kavanagh to get a reduced prison sentence – with the intention to pervert the course of justice.
Both Kent and Kavanagh pleaded not guilty to that charge.
Byrne, wearing a blue T-shirt and grey tracksuit bottoms, sat quietly with his arms folded from inside a conference room at Belmarsh Prison, while the hearing got under way. Byrne pleaded not guilty yesterday to conspiracy to possess a firearm without a certificate on May 28, 2020, two charges of conspiracy to possess ammunition on that same day and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon between April 29 and May 28, 2020.
He also pleaded not guilty alongside Kavanagh and Kent to three charges of possession of a firearm without a certificate between January 9, 2020 and June 3, 2021.
They also together pleaded not guilty to four charges of possession of ammunition for a firearm between those same dates and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon.
Kent then faced further charges of conspiring to sell or transfer prohibited ammunition and prohibited weapons – to which he pleaded not guilty. The court heard that the trio would have their detainment extended to June – where the case will then be heard for further case management before trial in September.
In the previous court hearing prosecuting barrister for the Crown Max Baines told the court that Byrne is connected to two alleged firearms plots.
He told the judge: “This is related to two firearms conspiracies connected by a common defendant, that being Mr Byrne.”
The court heard that Kent faces charges in the Manchester area that the prosecution now wishes to connect to
this overall firearms conspiracy case. Mr Baines told the court that there are “overlapping messages” which are relied on and a clear “nexus” for the cases to be joined.
The request to join those two cases together was granted by the presiding judge.
The UK’S National Crime Agency has alleged that it believes Byrne conspired with Thomas Kavanagh’s son Jack, 23, of Tamworth, England, and with Shaun Kent to pervert the course of justice “by planning to reveal the location of weapons in an attempt to get Thomas Kavanagh a reduced prison sentence”.
In mid-december the NCA released pictures of Byrne in their custody after he was extradited back from Spain.
In their press release at the time they stated that Byrne “who is thought to be one of the most trusted members of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group has been returned to the UK to stand trial for alleged firearms offences following a National Crime Agency investigation”.
Byrne, who is originally from Crumlin, was arrested in June when he was eating at a restaurant in the Alcudia area of Mallorca. The NCA’S intelligence led investigation was supported by the Spanish National Police and gardai.
This is related to two firearms conspiracies MAX BAINES PROSECUTING BARRISTER