Fourth Price gang pal is cleared of kidnap plot
A FOURTH member of Cornelius Price’s gang has been acquitted of his alleged involvement in a plot to kidnap two brothers in the UK.
Quincy Bramble (33) of east London was yesterday found not guilty by a jury at Wood Green Crown Court of conspiracy to falsely imprison the brothers as well as being cleared of conspiracy to blackmail them.
Earlier this week he was found not guilty of kidnapping the brothers.
Three other members of Price’s gang — Drogheda man Mark Kavanagh (34), of Yellowbatter and of Manchester; Danny Bridges (41), of Stourporton-Severn; and Lisa Finnerty (39), of Lancashire, were acquitted on Monday of two charges of conspiracy to falsely imprison and two of conspiracy to kidnap, between July 7 and 17 last year.
Gang boss Cornelius Price, originally from Gormanston, Co Meath, has been unable to stand trial with his five alleged associates after suffering a brain injury.
Forty-year-old Price is charged with conspiring to falsely imprison and blackmail the two brothers in July 2020. His trial has been adjourned indefinitely due to his ill health.
Price — whom gardai believe was a key figure in one of the two gangs involved in the Drogheda feud — moved to the UK following a wave of violence in the Co Louth town, including the killing of teen Keane Mulready-Woods.
Custody
Meanwhile, Irishman Darren McClean — who was found guilty of conspiring to kidnap one of the two brothers in the UK, as well as conspiring to blackmail both men — is to be sentenced on March 10. He has been remanded in custody.
McClean, of Cottenham in Cambridgeshire in the UK, was acquitted of two counts of kidnapping the brothers earlier this week.
Yesterday, after Bramble’s verdicts were handed down, counsel for McClean apologised on his behalf for his client’s outburst when he was found guilty of his charges.
On Wednesday, McClean shouted: “This is bulls**t. This court is corrupt to the backbone. There is no way in hell I should be found guilty. How can you balance this up? Lock me up, do what you have to do. The decision is wrong.”
His counsel told the judge: “My client wants to apologise to Your Honour and the jury for his outbursts during the return of the verdict.”
GARDAI believe at least three other people were involved in the operation to murder Drogheda teenager Keane Mulready-Woods.
All have been identified and interviewed by detectives for their suspected role in the killing.
A file on each has been sent to the DPP and senior officers are now hoping they will soon get the go ahead to charge them.
A Garda source said: “The murder was carried out with precision from picking up the young lad, bringing him to the house where he died, and then cleaning up the crime scene and disposing of the body.
“It was gruesome in every sense of the word.
“We believe three other people were involved and we hope they will be charged and punished for the part each of them played in this brutal crime.
“It is now up to the DPP to decide whether we have enough evidence to charge them.
“Keane’s family deserve justice for what happened to their son.”
Earlier this week, two men — Gerard Cruise (49) and Paul Crosby (27) — pleaded guilty to facilitating the 17-year-old’s murder in January 2020 at a house in Rathmullen Park, Drogheda, Co Louth. They are due to be sentenced at Special Criminal Court on February 13.
The owner of the house where the murder took place, Ged McKenna (53), received four years’ jail last year for cleaning up the crime scene and getting rid of the body.
The teenager was killed and his body dismembered with various parts dumped in Drogheda and Dublin. It took almost two years for his full body to be recovered.
Minor
Gardai accept that Keane was killed by known gangland assassin Robbie Lawlor who was subsequently shot dead in Belfast three months later in a retaliation hit.
But a Garda source said: “We still have no idea why this child was singled out and murdered.
“Yes, Lawlor was on one side of the Drogheda drugs feud but this young lad was only a very minor player and unfortunately for him, knew both sides.
“He was suspected of being involved in a petrol bomb attack but he had nothing to do with any of the other feud murders — Richie Carberry and Keith Branigan.
“Keane was never convicted of any serious offences, never did time in jail.
“One way or the other this child never deserved the death he suffered.”
Keane’s mother Elizabeth told this week’s hearing she prays for justice for her son’s “inhumane, violent and barbaric death”.
She said: “It was one of the most brutal, tragic and horrifying murders in the history of Ireland. The haunting nightmare will live with us forever.”
Two brothers who were ringleaders of the criminal gang on the same side of the feud as Lawlor fled the country weeks after Keane’s murder. They both received death threats.
Gardai say there was no evidence to suggest they had any involvement in the killing.
Both men are wanted in Ireland for other serious offences and warrants have been issued.
They have reportedly been living in Spain, Turkey and more recently Mexico.
Gardai said the drugs war in Drogheda came to a stop once they left.