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THE WIFE OF convicted “drug baron” Michael Byrne, currently serving an 18-year sentence in Mountjoy Prison, has failed in a bid to recover her half share in a €53,000 BMW X5 she jointly owned with her husband.
Elaine Byrne claimed in the Circuit Civil Court yesterday that she was entitled to a 50% interest in the vehicle, maliciously burned out in a garda compound in May 2009.
Byrne, a mother of five whose address was given as that of her solicitors Fahy Bambury McGeever, North King Street, Dublin, told the court the vehicle had been seized as part of a criminal investigation by the Garda Drug Unit in January 2008.
Barrister Karl Finnegan, counsel for the Garda Commissioner, told Judge Karen Fergus the vehicle had been destroyed by fire 16 months later, after two unidentified men had broken into the compound and set it on fire. A number of other vehicles had been damaged.
He said Ms Byrne in the High Court had challenged a restraint order on the vehicle in which she had then claimed a 100% interest. The late Justice Feeney had decided, prior to the proceedings having been remitted to the Circuit Court, that Ms Byrne had a 50% financial interest in the vehicle.
Byrne agreed with Finnegan that the gardaí had at all times been in lawful custody of the vehicle. Her husband had been the subject of a criminal investigation when an application had been brought to seize certain assets which had affected her by way of her interest in the BMW.
Finnegan said that, as it turned out, the vehicle no longer became a source of interest in the criminal proceedings against her husband at the time. He said an accelerant had been used to destroy the BMW by those who had broken into the compound.
Byrne said she had never been told what happened to her jeep. She had read in the Evening Herald about the fire in the garda compound.
Barrister Laurence Masterson, for Byrne, told the court she was a completely innocent party. The jeep in which she had a 50% interest had been seized under the Criminal Justice Act and a freezing order had been made in regard to it by Justice Feeney in the High Court.
Mr Masterson said there was an onus on the gardaí to take all reasonable and adequate steps to protect her property.
Judge Fergus, dismissing Byrne’s claim, said the gardaí did not have the manpower to maintain a 24-hour physical surveillance on the vehicle. It had been held in the compound for over a year when intruders had broken in with the intention of committing a criminal act.
She felt the gardaí, who had maintained CCTV surveillance of the compound, had acted reasonably in the circumstances. She made no order for costs in the case.
Michael Byrne, now 42, of Old Tower, Clondalkin, Dublin, was found guilty by a jury at the Circuit Criminal Court in 2010 of possessing 32kg of heroin in his van at Palmerstown in January 2008.
Jailing him for 18 years Judge Frank O’Donnell described him as a “drug baron” who was no small fry in the industry.
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Great to see – now lets really tackle packaging waste and force business to make the environmentally correct choice when choosing their packaging – We need to get rid of plastic bottles, plastic wrapping and one off coffee cups and lids
@brian boru:
Bring in another tax…..
@P.J. Nolan: not all taxes are bad – some make sense and others are just greedy – if taxes make it cost effective for a business to do the right thing then it is a good tax in my book. Some are greedy and corrupt like the Irish water plan and need to be fought but smart taxation can be beneficial to society.
All the chocolate bar companies have moved to plastic wrapping because it costs less. Like wise the soft drink companies have moved to plastic bottles because they are prettier. Neither are thinking about the environment and need to be forced to rethink their packaging plans. Taxation is the fastest route to getting these huge companies to change their game plan at the speed we need it to happen.
@brian boru: I would be far more comfortable if chocolate bars once again came in paper and foil. I know they wont recycle the foil but i’m sure it does far less than damage to the environment than plastic.
@Darren Byrne: The plastic gives a longer shelf life so the chocolate companies are using it to give them higher margins at the cost of the environment. Regulatory needs to step in and drive a higher cost to the manufacturer for using the plastic due to the environmental cost. Am sure if the right pressure was applied a solution could be arranged that worked for everyone. The only lever I can think of in this situation is taxation as expecting people to make the change will take generations.
@brian boru: I’m sure it does give longer shelf life, but surely chocolate is a fast-selling item with a high turnover rate? And once bought? I’ve often eaten a square or two and put it away for a week or so, okay, I’m odd, but a lot of people seem to eat bars very quickly once they have some in the house – I’ve even heard of people freezing a bar to keep it for later. I honestly don’t see chocolate as being in any danger of going off before it’s consumed.
It’s fantastic the system works, now let’s solve the plastic bottles ( bottle water ) and the coffee cup problem .
Great and more to be done… especially with plastic
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/plasticpledge/?beta=true
Where are all the reusable items stripped out of the WEEE appliances. Is it Ireland, UK, Europe.
Surely it’s not Africa where all that toxic stuff is released in both the air and the soil/water, by burning all that plastic stuff that covers wires and other components by folks trying to scrape a living together ?
Any answers appreciated. Hope I’m wrong.
Is a dildo a small appliance? Just asking
@Seriously stunned: that all depends on the wife’s choice in style
@Seriously stunned: that all depends on the wife’s choice in style
If domestic appliances were designed and built to last longer than the now average 5 to 10 years lifespan then recycling would be greatly reduced.The average lifespan of some appliances twenty or thirty years ago was averaging ten to twenty years .Most appliances now have built in obsolescence.
Great, but after the specials on Aldi and Lidl this Sunday, we’ll need extra capacity!
You are going to have a great bunch of lads moistening their lips when you talk about that much copper
This just demonstrates the amount of junk we buy throw out and replace. Thats not sustainable
have your say