EXCLUSIVE | 

Notorious thug ‘Border Fox’ Dessie O’Hare looks refreshed and fresh with one year left to serve

O’Hare presents as a serene and spiritual yoga master behind bars, where he refuses to have a TV in his cell so as not to disturb his meditation

Today at 06:30

Yoga-loving pensioner Dessie O’Hare looks relaxed and fresh as he is brought for an escorted hospital visit during the week for a check-up.

The 67-year-old self-professed multiple murderer has just one more year to serve in the high-security Portlaoise Prison before he is released again into the community

The notorious thug, dubbed the ‘Border Fox’ presents as a serene and spiritual yoga master behind bars, where he refuses to have a television in his cell so as not to disturb his meditation sessions and floor work.

But behind the Zen and enlightened front lies one of Ireland’s most dangerous terrorists, killers and torturers whose crimes remain unrivalled in the history of the State.

O’Hare is currently serving a 10-year sentence with three suspended for the false imprisonment and assault of a long-serving member of staff of the late Jim Mansfield Senior.

He led a gang of terror thugs who attempted a forced takeover of security at the Mansfield property during a chaotic period when Jim Mansfield Jnr was employing a series of dissident groups at the family home at Tasaggart in south Dublin.

Along with killer Declan ‘Whacker’ Duffy, O’Hare used his fearsome reputation and his fists to terrorise employee Martin Byrne, who would be placed on the Witness Protection Programme such was the level of threat in the run-up to the trials.

While businessman Jim Mansfield Jnr was found not guilty in relation to the kidnap, he was convicted and jailed for attempting to pervert the course of justice in relation to the assault.

Behind bars for more than 13 months in Portlaoise, Mansfield Jnr was held on the C1 landing at the jail where O’Hare is top dog and was afforded the terror thug’s protection during his period of incarceration before being released in March.

O’Hare is one of the most complex figures to have emerged from Northern Ireland’s Troubles. Born in Keady in Co. Armagh, he came from a family steeped in Republicanism.

He was originally a member of the Provisional IRA and led a unit that killed part-time UDR member Margaret Ann Hearst in front of her three-year-old daughter. He was linked to a series of killing and attacks but left the PIRA in the late 1970s as he was deemed too violent and erratic for the group.

In 1987, he kidnapped the dentist John O’Grady and demanded a £1.5 million ransom while moving his victim around the country. At one point he severed O’Grady’s fingers and left them in a church as a mark of his intentions should the money not be paid up.

For weeks, gardaí played cat and mouse with the kidnapper and eventually after a shootout rescued O’Grady, but O’Hare got away.

Three weeks later, he was caught and survived despite having been shot eight times in Urlingford in Co. Kilkenny.

At his trial in 1988 he was sentenced to 40 years in prison, where he ranted to the Special Criminal Court about being the victim of British and Irish brutality and he called on Republicans to raise their guns and turn them on the judiciary, the prison service personnel, Defence Forces and gardaí. He described himself as an Irish patriot.

After his release under the terms of the Good Friday Peace Agreement, he returned to his border home in Monaghan and pursued a spiritual life, going to retreats and visiting Medugorje – but he continued to mix with dangerous criminals and paramilitaries and was suspected of working as an enforcer and debt collector.

In 2012, he again gave a ranting speech about patriots and the struggles of Ireland when he gave an oration at the funeral of his murdered friend Eamon Kelly, a veteran mentor to gangland figures including the late Martin ‘Marlo’ Hyland and Eamon ‘The Don’ Dunne.

While O’Hare tried to keep a low profile, his secret criminal life was blown in June 2015 when he was caught in the middle of a ruthless kidnap and attack on Mr Byrne at Mansfield’s property.

He pleaded guilty and was jailed in 2018 and has been incarcerated in Portlaoise Prison ever since, where he is regularly visited by his wife and where he is reported as being the ultimate ‘model prisoner.’

Sources say that O’Hare has been doing his time without causing any problems so he can secure his release next June without any delays.

The two faces of Dessie O’Hare will be discussed on an episode of Crime World this week.