GANGSTER GRANDAD
62-year-old offered home as safe house to Kinahan hitman
A GRANDAD offered his home as a safe house to a Kinahan cartel assassin.
Stephen Fowler, 62, whose own son was murdered over a drug feud, brought hitman Imre Arakas to his Dublin property in a gangland plot to kill James “Mago” Gately.
Gardai watched the Estonian take a bus from Dublin Airport to the city centre in April 2017 before he was collected by Fowler.
He faces up to 15 years in prison and will be sentenced next month.
A GRANDAD whose son was murdered over a drug feud offered his home as an overnight safe-house to a Kinahan cartel assassin, a court has heard.
Stephen Fowler 62, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to his participation in the attempted murder of James “Mago” Gately, a member of the rival Hutch gang, when he was living in Belfast in April 2017.
Less than a month later Gately survived a second assassination attempt on his life when he was parked at the Topaz petrol station in Clonshaugh in North Dublin, where he was shot five times.
Yesterday Det Gda Sgt David Carolan told prosecutor Dominic Mcginn that a conspiracy to murder Gately was under way as gardai monitored Estonian hitman Imre Arakas upon his arrival at Dublin Airport in April 2017.
Det Sgt Carolan said officers monitored Arakas taking a bus from the airport to Dublin city centre, where he bought a wig, before he was collected by Fowler and another male and taken to Fowler’s home.
Mr Mcginn said that at around 8.20pm on April 3, 2017, Fowler picked up Arakas in his van, which was branded Blakestown Tyres, at Barry’s Hotel in Dublin city centre. He then brought him to Blakestown Cottages because Fowler had “owed” another unnamed male.
The next day gardai, on foot of a search warrant, went to the Blakestown Cottages address and arrested Fowler and Arakas. Fowler said he would not name who he took instruction from because it would amount to a threat to his life.
Mr Mcginn said a visible open thread on the Blackberry phone used by Arakas led to gardai piecing together the plot to murder Gately.
He added that a tracking device had later been put in place on Gately’s car and that the PSNI had been informed of the matter on April 4, 2017, which led to the thwarting of the assassination.
In 2012, Fowler pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis worth €450,000 and served six years of an eight-year sentence.
Defending counsel, Michael Bowman, said Fowler’s son, Eric, 34, was in Poland at the time of the offence and that Fowler had taken responsibility for a debt associated with his deceased son. Eric was gunned down in 2018.
Arakas, 63, was jailed for six years in December 2018 after he admitted to conspiring with others to the attempted murder of Gately in Northern Ireland between April 3 and 4, 2017.
Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding at the three-judge court, said sentencing will be on October 4.