Associate of Dundon McCarthy gang jailed for 15 years for fatally shooting man in Limerick 19 years ago

AN associate of the Dundon McCarthy gang who fatally shot Noel Campion 19 years ago "in cold blood" and was later deported back to Ireland having told multiple people in the US - including a police officer - that he had killed a man, has been jailed for 15 years by the Central Criminal Court. 

The court heard during last month's sentence hearing for 42-year-old Darragh Quinlivan that he later characterised what he had said as "sh**e talk" and sarcasm.

Mr Campion was shot dead as he was riding as a back passenger on a motorbike at Thomondgate in Limerick city - close to St Munchin's Church.

Sentencing Quinlivan at the Central Criminal Court today, Mr Justice Paul McDermott said he was satisfied the case fell into the "most serious category" and that the offence was part of a plan to kill an individual "in cold blood". He said it was clear from the evidence that Quinlivan was the gunman who had killed Mr Campion and he had also attempted to kill the man driving the motorbike that day. 

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The judge said Quinlivan had hid himself from view in a phone booth and "ambushed" the men "virtually at point blank range". He remarked that Mr Campion had clearly been shot to advance the interests of the Dundon McCarthy gang. 

Mr Justice McDermott called the shooting "callous and brutal", where the defendant had opened fire on a public street during the mid-morning when there was heavy traffic and without regard for the public's safety. 

The judge noted that he had received a considerable number of statements from those who have been greatly affected by Mr Campion's killing. He added: "They set out very eloquently and in great detail the terrible devastation brought upon the family following the loss of a husband, father, uncle, and friend in these appalling circumstances. It is a life-long endurance that the family are subjected to as a result of this shooting".

Mr Justice McDermott pointed out that the devastation and heartbreak caused by Quinlivan's actions were obvious. However, the judge said this was put into "stark reality" when the "very detailed and raw" victim impact statements were presented to the court. He described the statements as very moving and said they encapsulated the continuing grief and sorrow experienced by the family, which he said will continue into the future. 

The judge said careful planning was involved in the killing including the procurement of the firearm. He said the disposal of the weapon required considerable effort and application. 

Quinlivan had originally been charged with the murder of Mr Campion (35) on the northside of Limerick city on April 26, 2007.

However, when arraigned before the court in January, Quinlivan, originally from Limerick city but with an address at Ranswell Close, Bolton, Manchester in the UK, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life at or about the junction of High Road and Thomondgate in Limerick.

He has also pleaded guilty that on the same occasion with the purpose of enhancing the ability of a criminal organisation, being the Dundon McCarthy organised criminal group, to commit a serious offence in the State, to wit the murder of Mr Campion, did knowingly participate in the activity of that criminal organisation by shooting dead the said Mr Campion.

Prosecution counsel, Dean Kelly SC, previously told the court that Quinlivan was not pleading guilty to the offence of murder.

Before passing sentence today, Mr Justice McDermott said the maximum sentence for unlawful possession of the firearm was life in prison. He said the offence of participating in the activity of a criminal organisation had a maximum sentence of five years at the time but was subsequently increased, which he said was of no relevance to the case. 

The judge said Quinlivan was observed in the aftermath of the killing drinking and behaving in a celebratory mood with seven other members of the McCarthy-Dundon gang. He said gardai believed that the shooting was directed from the top of the McCarthy-Dundon gang.

Quinlivan, he said, had applied for a passport five days after the shooting. The defendant had also appeared at Nenagh District Court on May 2 2007 for taking a car and gave evidence that he hoped to leave Ireland within two weeks because of his involvement in the feud between the Keane-Collopy and the McCarthy-Dundon gangs.

The court has heard that the defendant left Ireland on June 6, 2007, with his passport obtained in the days after the shooting. Quinlivan travelled to Tacoma in Washington State, where he lived and worked for the next six months.

In the early hours of January 13, 2008 local police were called to a domestic incident in a house, where the defendant and his uncle had a significant argument which strayed into violence. One of the officers arrested Quinlivan and observed he was so drunk that when he was travelling to the police station he had trouble talking and walking.

The policeman said Quinlivan told him: "You know why I'm here, I killed a man in Ireland" and then named the man as being 'Noel'.

The judge said today that Quinlivan was deported back to Ireland in March 2008 and that he had been 24 years of age at the time of the shooting. 

Mr Justice McDermott said he had received substantial documentation that the defendant had made significant efforts to move away from his criminal behaviour and that how Quinlivan is now is "completely at odds with his character" in 2007. 

Quinlivan has 24 previous convictions, including those for robbery with a firearm and the unauthorised taking of a MPV.

Mr Justice McDermott set the headline sentence for the charge of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life at 22 years but took into account mitigating factors, including his guilty plea and that he had developed "a totally different lifestyle" since 2012. He said Quinlivan had also expressed regret but this provided little solace for those left behind. 

The judge reduced the 22 year sentence to 16 years when taking mitigation into account. He further suspended the last 12 months of that sentence for a period of two years on various conditions.

He was also sentenced to four years imprisonment on the count of participating in the activity of a criminal organisation. The man's sentences are to run concurrently.

SENTENCE HEARING

At a previous hearing, Inspector Fergal Hanrahan detailed the events of the morning of April 26, 2007, telling Dean Kelly SC, prosecuting, that the deceased Noel Campion had been due to appear in Limerick District Court for road traffic offences.

Mr Kelly said Mr Campion had travelled towards the city as a pavilion passenger on a motorcycle being driven by Brian 'Spider' Scanlan, who was in a relationship with the deceased's sister.

The Insp said the men were stopped in traffic behind a truck when 'lone male' Darragh Quinlivan walked out from a nearby phone booth and discharged a firearm a number of times, leading to the death of Mr Campion.

An eyewitness, who later rang 999, said that as he was parking his van a man in a red hoodie, who was about to open the door of the phone kiosk, had pulled a hood down over his forehead. The witness said the shooter outstretched his right hand as the motorcycle passed him and fired four shots into the back of the pavilion passenger.

Insp Hanrahan said Quinlivan made his getaway in a Volkswagen Passat and left the scene at speed in the direction of Moyross. The vehicle was later found partially burnt out.

The court heard that an "extremely quick response" was made by gardai and paramedics, who commenced cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Mr Campion. This continued en route to the hospital where it was noted that Mr Campion was in cardiac arrest with gunshot wounds to the front of the abdomen, said counsel.

Mr Campion, the lawyer said, was ultimately pronounced dead at 11.25am that morning; around 40 minutes after the shooting. There were eight gunshot wounds with four entry and four exit wounds. He died from blood loss from those injuries and had significant damage to the aorta.

A short time later on May 1 2007, the court heard, Quinlivan went to the garda station to have a passport signed.

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On May 2 2007, the witness said Quinlivan appeared before Nenagh Circuit Court on an unrelated matter regarding the taking of a car. Quinlivan gave evidence, where he said it was his intention to leave Ireland to move to the US, where work was waiting for him. The defendant said it was his desire to leave the country as soon as he possibly could due to his involvement in a feud.

Mr Kelly said in 2007 there was a feud between the Keane-Collopy and the McCarthy-Dundon gangs.

The barrister said that gardai later received confidential information which caused the investigation to focus on Quinlivan. On May 10 2007, two gardai met the defendant by appointment and took a voluntary cautioned interview about the morning of April 26.

Asked to account for his movements, Quinlivan told officers he had stayed in his parents house on the night of April 25. The defendant said he woke the next morning around 10.45am to a phone call from someone at the courthouse to say Mr Campion had been shot. "In essence he provided his own alibi and the news of the shooting caused him to get up," remarked Mr Kelly.

Quinlivan said he left his parents house that morning and went to visit the grave of his friend Frankie Ryan, who had died in 2006. Insp Hanrahan said Gary Campion is a brother of Noel and is serving a life sentence for this murder.

When gardai spoke to Quinlivan again four days later, the defendant said he recalled driving around in convoy with other cars and had gone to a party in John Dundon's house.

On May 25 2007, George Quinlivan was asked to account for his son's movements and he said Darragh was asleep in bed on the morning of April 26.

Following the domestic incident in Tacoma in Washington in January 2008, the policeman said Quinlivan had also told him he had shot a man in the back of the head "execution style". The officer also stated that Quinlivan said all the bullets were to the deceased man's trunk, none to the head and that he had killed him in retaliation for 'Noel' having killed a friend of his.

Another family friend said in a statement to police in August 2007 that Quinlivan had told her he had done something back home. She asked Quinlivan if he had killed someone, and she said he neither admitted nor denied that was the case.

Another woman said the defendant told her he was in the US as he had killed a member of an opposing gang and she recollected a motorbike being mentioned. She said Quinlivan told her he walked out and shot "the guy with a handgun". She said the defendant made the gesture of a handgun and said 'bang bang'.

The wife of Quinlivan's uncle also told police that while the defendant was living with them, he said he had killed someone but hadn't mentioned the name. Mr Kelly said these revelations were brought to the attention of gardai in Ireland to see if they were of assistance.

Quinlivan later denied to police in the US that he had murdered Mr Campion, adding that he hadn't fled there and that it was a planned trip. The defendant said he was closest to the Dundons and "couldn't get closer".

The defendant, Mr Kelly said, was deported back to Ireland from the US in 2008 and characterised what he said to the officer in the US as "sh**e talk" and sarcasm. Insp Hanrahan said the evidence in the case had been available to gardai some years ago and it was recommenced as a cold case review in 2022.

The witness said Quinlivan was a close associate of the McCarthy-Dundon criminal gang and was believed to have accidentally discharged a firearm at a house party in 2006, where a woman was injured. "It was believed to have been not an incident of deliberate criminality but rather highly reckless horseplay, which led to her suffering a gun wound," said Mr Kelly.

Under cross-examination, the Insp agreed with Seamus Clarke SC, defending, that a significant amount of evidence the State was to rely on at trial in essence came from Quinlivan's own mouth, including what he had said to people in the US with drink on board.

The detective further agreed with the lawyer that his client had removed himself from Limerick City after 2012 and moved to the UK, where he got a job, settled down and "took a turn in the road for the good".

The detective agreed with the prosecutor that gardai are of the view that the killing of Noel Campion was directed by the McCarthy-Dundon criminal organisation.

In his submissions, Mr Clarke said that his client wasn't somebody who was tight-lipped and had kept to himself in the past, but he was now the epitome of a family man and had worked hard the last 13 years for his three children.

VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENTS

In her victim impact statement, which was read to the court by the prosecutor, the daughter of Mr Campion said her father's death has had a devastating and life-long impact on her family.

Lynsey Campion said she was only 11 years old when her father was murdered and that he was a loving and caring man, who cherished simple family moments.

"When he was murdered I watched the world move on when my own world had stopped...You murdered my father and carried on with your life as if nothing happened, you continued as if taking a life meant nothing," she said, addressing Quinlivan

The deceased's wife, Maureen Campion, said in her statement that when she arrived at the scene of where Noel was "brutally shot", her life changed forever.

She said part of her died that day but she had to stay strong for her two young children. "Noel did not deserve this brutal and premeditated murder inflicted on him," she said.