Gangster caged over €1.5m drugs haul under investigation for alleged role in aftermath of Keane Mulready Woods murder

Exclusive: Stephen Carberry was previously arrested and quizzed by gardai over allegedly providing logistical help to the gang behind the killing and dismemberment of 17-year-old K

• Share

A gangster caged over a €1.5million drugs haul yesterday remains under investigation for his alleged role in the aftermath of one of the most brutal murders in Irish history.

Stephen Carberry was previously arrested and quizzed by gardai over allegedly providing logistical help to the gang behind the killing and dismemberment of 17-year-old Keane Mulready Woods.

Carberry was questioned about assisting the mob after the slaying of the teenager.

Investigators have sent a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions on Carberry but have not yet received directions on the matter.

Mulready Woods was murdered, chopped up in January 2020 by rivals of mob boss Owen Maguire’s gang as part of the vicious Drogheda feud.

Just months beforehand, in November 2019, Carberry’s brother Richie was shot dead outside his Bettystown home in Co Meath.

Richie was a senior member of the anti-Maguire faction.

A source confirmed: “Stephen Carberry remains under investigation in terms of giving assistance to gang members after the boy had been killed.”

The chief suspect in the Mulready Woods case was crazed hitman Robbie Lawlor who was shot dead in Belfast in April, 2020.

Paul Crosby and Gerard Cruise are behind bars for assisting the mob in the killing while Ged McKenna was released earlier this year having served time for removing evidence from his Rathmullen Park home where the teenager met his gruesome end.

Carberry was before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday [WED] where he was caged over a seizure of €968,930 of ecstasy tablets and €559,526 of cannabis more than a decade ago.

The 45-year-old, of Sandymount Avenue, Dublin 4, was convicted following a trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in April of five counts of possessing cannabis and ecstasy for sale and supply on May 23, 2013, at The Strand, Donabate.

Judge Elma Sheahan jailed Carberry to nine years with the final 12 months suspended, however she also gave him credit for over 360 days already served in custody.

The sentence was backdated to April of this year, resulting in a total term of imprisonment of about six years and ten months.

The judge said he was trusted and not an insignificant cog in the drugs operation.

Sergeant Vincent Campbell, of Store Street Garda Station, was previously brought through the facts of the case.

Carberry was placed under surveillance on May 21, 2013 at a Dublin address where he was living at the time.

On May 23, the thug was stopped in a car he was driving in Glasnevin, north Dublin while another house in the Strand, Donabate was raided.

Carberry was in possession of keys to this house at the time and one to gain access to a box room, which was locked, in the property.

During a search of the property, gardaí found 27.9kg of cannabis and over 96,000 ecstasy tablets along with a scoop.

Sgt Campbell also confirmed that a phone charger, with Carberry’s DNA on it, was found on a phone charger inside the house.

After he was charged, the case was hit with a number of delays but it finally went ahead and he was found guilty last month of five charges which include the possession of the drugs for sale and supply.

Carberry has 73 convictions, which are all at district court level, but 11 of them are currently under appeal.

They include possession of knives, dangerous driving and other road traffic matters.

The court previously heard that there was a series of delays in the case due to difficulties from the prosecution side, the defending side and covid-19.

Mr Carberry was charged in 2014 and refused bail. He spent just under a year in custody before being released.

Carberry was subsequently re-charged in relation to this case. He has been in custody since the trial’s conclusion last month.

The court also previously heard of Carberry’s “emotional breakdown” following his brother’s death and that he suffered with long covid.