A GANG MEMBER involved in a foiled Kinahan Cartel plot to murder James ‘Mago’ Gately, during which he placed a tracker device on the rival Hutch member’s car, has been jailed by the Special Criminal Court for six-and-a-half years.

Sentencing Douglas Glynn at the non-jury court today, presiding judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt said the three judges were satisfied that the management and planting of the tracking device by Glynn placed him “higher” in the criminal organisation than his co-accused David Duffy and Stephen Fowler.

The court noted that the criminal organisation which Glynn had assisted is particularly serious, well organised and well financed.

Last November at the non-jury court, Glynn changed his plea to guilty just over a week after he went on trial and admitted placing a tracker device on Gately’s car.

Gately had been warned by gardaí of a threat to his life from criminals who believed him to be involved in the Regency Hotel murder of Kinahan Cartel associate David Byrne in February 2016.

The court has heard in previous related cases that there was “ongoing targeting” of Gately in the context of a feud between the Hutch and Kinahan crime groups. Estonian hitman Imre Arakas was brought to Ireland in 2017 to carry out the murder of Gately before he was apprehended by gardaí.

Detective Sergeant David Carolan previously told the Special Criminal Court he was aware that Gately was involved “in a feud with the Kinahan organised crime group” and that Gately “had a wider association with the Hutch organised crime group”. He said that Gately was “being targeted by the Kinahan organised crime group at the time”.

Glynn (37) of Fitzgibbon Court, Dublin 1, was re-arraigned on November 17 and pleaded guilty to participating in activities of a criminal organisation, contrary to Section 72 (1) (A) of the Criminal Justice Act. When first arraigned at the three-judge court on November 9, Glynn had pleaded not guilty.

The specifics of the charge are that on dates between December 7, 2016, and April 6, 2017, inclusive, both within and outside the State and with knowledge of a criminal organisation and with the intent of enhancing the ability of the said criminal organisation or any of its members to commit a serious offence, namely the murder of James Gately, he did participate in or contribute to activities connected with the said offence.

Before delivering the sentence today, Mr Justice Hunt said the offence arose out of an “ongoing plan” to murder Gately. Gardai were not aware of these operations until April 2017, he said, and it was only made clear with the arrival of Arakas on a flight into Dublin from Alicante.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Hunt said Glynn was captured on CCTV wearing a distinctive hat with ear flaps as he placed a tracking device on Gately’s Toyota car.

Det Sgt O’Leary said there was an exchange between “Oscar” and another individual about getting a tracker on a car belonging to Gately’s sister on January 16 2017 and this was consistent with a tracker being put on her car the next day. There were also questions coming from “Oscar” about the seizing of tracking devices by gardai on February 23, 2017.

At today’s sentencing hearing, Mr Justice Hunt noted one of the Blackberry devices revealed that ‘Oscar’ had also sent a message saying: “Have you still got the charging pad off that”. The next message said: “Ok, I need to grab that at some stage tomorrow”.

Det Sgt O’Leary, the court previously heard, put Glynn “slightly above” David Duffy and Fowler in the criminal organisation.

The court set the headline sentence at ten years imprisonment.

In mitigation, the judge noted that Glynn’s plea was entered after the trial began but also came after the service of a considerable amount of evidence of the defence. He said it could therefore be treated as an early plea.

Having regard to the gravity of the offence, the judge said the maximum sentence was 15 years in prison. The aggravating factors in the case were that the criminal organisation which Glynn had assisted is particularly serious, well organised and well financed.

The very serious offence of murder had been contemplated by the criminal organisation, the judge said, and it did not take place solely because of the early intervention from gardai.

Mr Justice Hunt noted the accused’s guilty plea, that there was some positive aspect in the testimonial material supplied to the court which did not rule out rehabilitation and the relative minor nature of the accused’s previous convictions.

Glynn has 16 previous convictions mostly for minor road offences. He has one conviction for possession of drugs for sale and supply.  

Mr Justice Hunt also pointed out that the court was satisfied that the management and planting of the tracking device on Gately’s car by Glynn placed him higher in the criminal organisation than Duffy and Fowler.

Duffy (33) of Greenfort Lawns, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 and Fowler (62), of Blakestown Cottages in Clonsilla, Dublin 15 have both already been jailed for providing logistical support to the plot to murder Gately.

Mr Justice Hunt, sitting with Judge Sarah Berkeley and Judge Cormac Dunne, sentenced Glynn to seven years and six months imprisonment with the final year suspended, backdated to December 31 2021, when he went into custody.

Defence counsel Simon Matthews BL asked Mr Justice Hunt if his client could serve his sentence in Mountjoy Prison. “We can’t do anything about that but you can have a recommendation,” replied the judge.

Sentence Hearing

At last month’s sentence hearing, Detective Sergeant Jonathan O’Leary, of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, told Dominic McGinn SC, prosecuting, that the offence arose out of an “ongoing plan” to target Gately, which began in December 2016.

Det Sgt O’Leary said gardai were not aware of who the target was until April 2017 and it was only on the arrival of Arakas into Ireland on April 2, 2017 that gardai became aware that the plan was to assassinate Gately.  

Estonian hitman Arakas (63) was jailed by the Special Criminal Court for six years in December 2018, after he admitted to conspiring with others to murder Gately in Northern Ireland between April 3 and 4, 2017.

The witness said that Gately is a prominent member of a rival criminal organisation.

During the investigation, gardai were aware that someone would be arriving into Ireland and Arakas was tracked by members of the unit and followed around Dublin city. He was later collected by a man driving a white Mercedes van and taken to Blakestown Cottages, Clonsilla, Dublin 15, where a co-accused Stephen Fowler lived.

Whilst walking around the city, Arakas purchased items for his role as an assassin including a disguise and he was also observed in an area of the city where Gately might have frequented.

Having observed where Ararkas went, a search warrant was obtained for Blakestown Cottages on April 4, 2017 and gardai found Arakas and Fowler on the premises. A Blackberry device was found in Arakas’ possession and an open message thread referring to the planning of the murder of Gately was found. The message thread was wiped remotely after it was photographed on the Blackberry device. A note was also found next to Arakas which was written in Estonian but with the words ‘James Gately, Dublin criminal’ written in English.

In addition, there was information about the geographical features as to where Gately was living in Belfast and reference to a firearm using the code word “dog”. Det Sgt O’Leary said it became clear that it was anticipated that Gately was to be assassinated and armed with that information, gardai liaised with the PSNI.

In April 2017, Mr McGinn said that Gately was found to be driving a Toyota Avensis that had been fitted with a covert tracking device. The court heard it had been planted on his car on March 30. Gardai were then able to “knit together” various incidents over the previous months where similar tracking devices had been planted on other cars associated with Gately.

These tracking devices were manufactured by a UK company called GoTEK7. Det Sgt O’Leary said information was downloaded from the devices and cross-checked with information held by the parent company to give an insight as to where the devices had been at any given time.

On March 30 2017, Mr McGinn said three occupants – Glynn, Peter Keating and another man – travelled to Belfast in a blue Peugeot car.

Last September, Keating (40) of Rowlagh Green, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 was jailed for 11 years after he pleaded guilty to directing the activities of a criminal organisation between December 7, 2016, and April 6, 2017, within and outside the State relating to the targeting of Gately.

The court heard today that CCTV footage showed the Peugeot driving to Gately’s apartment complex and an attempt was made by Glynn to gain access to the premises. Glynn did not manage to gain access as he was challenged by an employee in the underground carpark and was escorted from the area.

The Peugeot later entered the carpark when a different vehicle exited the complex. Det Sgt O’Leary said Glynn got out of the Peugeot and went to Gately’s Toyota to plant the tracking device. Glynn was wearing a hunting cap with ear flaps at the time. Having deployed the device, the Peugeot car with the three occupants drove back to Dublin.

In the days following this, information from the tracking device showed Gately’s vehicle driving to Dublin and his movements were matched with the movements of Keating. The tracking device was later found on Gately’s vehicle.

On April 5, the Peugeot was stopped with a different man driving it. The next day Glynn and another man, who had brought the tracking device to Ireland, took a ferry to the UK.

On April 11, Glynn’s residence at Ashtown was searched and five Blackberry devices were located. A serial number showed they had all come from the same batch.

Gardai learned that Glynn had used a code name “Oscar” and it became apparent that a number of phone messages on March 29 from that name referred to a hunting hat with ear flaps.

Det Sgt O’Leary said there was an exchange between “Oscar” and another individual about getting a tracker on a car belonging to Gately’s sister on January 16 2017 and this was consistent with a tracker being put on her car the next day. There were also questions coming from “Oscar” about the seizing of tracking devices by gardai on February 23, 2017.

Det Sgt O’Leary, the court heard, put Glynn “slightly above” David Duffy and Fowler in the criminal organisation.

In mitigation, defence counsel Shane Costelloe SC asked the court to consider that his client was well-integrated into society, that he had three children and that he was very involved in the care for his two elderly parents. “He is a man who has some prospects when he finishes his sentence,” he added.

In his opening speech, Mr McGinn said that the evidence in the case against Glynn was of a “circumstantial” nature involving CCTV, photograph, mobile phone, tracking device, fingerprint and Garda observation evidence.

Glynn is the fifth man to be found guilty in cases relating to the failed bid to murder Gately in Belfast.

In another attempt on his life, Gately survived being shot five times as he sat in his car at the then Topaz petrol station on the Clonshaugh Road in north Dublin on May 10, 2017.