Two senior Kinahan gang figures jailed in UK over gun conspiracy

Updated / Tuesday, 22 Oct 2024 19:57

Crime Correspondent

Two senior figures in the Kinahan organised crime group have been jailed in the UK for their part in a conspiracy to stockpile guns and ammunition so that one of them, Thomas Kavanagh, could get a lighter sentence for drug smuggling.

Kavanagh, 57, with an address in Tamworth in England, his brother-in law Liam Byrne, 43, from Crumlin, the head of the Kinahan gang in Dublin and 38-year-old Shaun Kent from Liverpool all pleaded guilty.

Kavanagh was sentenced to six years in prison to be served consecutively to his existing 21 year sentence. Byrne was sentenced to five years in prison while Kent was jailed for six years.

Judge Philip Katz said the one overarching criminal plan was designed to help Kavanagh with his sentencing. The means chosen was to put together a cache of guns to fool the National Crime Agency and then to fool the judge sentencing Kavanagh for drugs trafficking.

The judge also said that even though the guns were collected for the conspiracy and not for general purposes, these were category one offences, the most serious kind for sentencing.

The three men, he said, were involved in the collection of as many highly dangerous weapons as possible to be sourced and paid for through networks of very serious criminals.

Kavanagh was at the heart of the conspiracy and although in prison “able to pull the strings”.

The judge also said that the three can serve half their sentences in custody, which means that Byrne will be released on licence after two-and-a-half years.

Kent has already spent more than three years in custody.

Detective Chief Superintendent Séamus Boland, head of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, welcomed the sentences.

He said: “The sentences received by Thomas Kavanagh and Liam Byrne, in particular, are welcome and I commend our colleagues at the National Crime Agency, for their determination for justice to be delivered in this case.

“This particular investigation highlights how organised crime groups will use their vast illicit resources in an effort to corrupt the legal process. Convictions like these, although taking place in the United Kingdom, have a significant impact on the organised crime landscape in Ireland.

“We continue to work in unison with our international partners in tackling the primary organised crime networks who negatively impact on our communities.”

Kinahan boss in UK ordered to pay £1.1m to authorities or face more jail time

Updated / Friday, 25 Jul 2025 15:48

The head of the Kinahan organised crime group in the UK has been ordered to pay more than £1.1 million to authorities in the UK which was deemed to be the proceeds of crime or face an additional 12 years in prison.

Thomas Kavanagh, aged 57, was jailed for 21 years in March 2022 for presiding over the importation of over £30 million worth of cocaine and cannabis in a year.

Kavanagh, who is originally from Dublin, also admitted being involved in the illegal trafficking of firearms and money laundering.

The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) subsequently began an investigation into the Kinahan crime group’s finances and assets.

The investigation estimated Kavanagh’s criminal profits to be in the region of £12.2 million with recoverable assets amounting to over £1.1 million.

The assets included a 50% share in what the NCA described as Kavanagh’s “fortified family mansion” in Tamworth in England.

Money from the sale of other properties in the UK and Spain along with £150,000 worth of “high-end bags, clothes and accessories”, which were seized during a search of Kavanagh’s house, were also deemed to be part of his assets.

Kavanagh has been told he has three months to pay the sum of £1.1 million or face another 12 years in prison.

Another senior figure in the Kinahan organised crime group, Gary Vickery, was also subject to a proceeds of crime investigation.

He has been ordered to pay over £109,000 within three months or face another two years in prison.

Vickery, aged 43, was arrested in October 2017 following the seizures of 15kg of cocaine and more than 220kg of cannabis which was found inside a six-tonne industrial tarmac removal machine in Dover.

Vickery, originally from Dublin, is currently serving a 20-year sentence.

Head of Operations HQ at the NCA Kay Mellor said Thomas Kavanagh and his gang “believed they were untouchable, but that proved to be their downfall”.

“Kavanagh and Vickery will be behind bars for many years to come and now have to pay back more than £1 million to the state,” she said.

UK Chief Crown Prosecutor Adrian Foster said Kavanagh and Vickery are “dangerous criminals in the organised gang world, importing millions of pounds worth of dangerous drugs on an industrial scale to the UK”.

“This successful £1 million Confiscation Order demonstrates the prosecution team’s commitment to work across borders to strip organised criminals of their illegal gains.

“We continue to pursue the proceeds of crime robustly and will return them back to court to serve an additional sentence of imprisonment if they fail to pay their orders,” Mr Foster said.