A well-known Limerick gangland figure, David ‘Frogs Eyes’ Stanners, has died in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin.
The 51-year-old, who was aligned to the McCarthy-Dundon crime group, was convicted in December 2003, along with four other people, of the murder of Kieran Keane, who was tortured and then shot in the head in January 2003. The murder was one of 19 in a lengthy feud between rival criminals in Limerick.
The five gang members were also convicted of the attempted murder of Keane’s nephew, Owen Treacy, who survived despite being stabbed 17 times.
Stanners, of Pineview Gardens, Moyross, was found unresponsive in his cell just before midnight on Wednesday, where he was serving a life sentence. He was pronounced dead in the early hours of Thursday.
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Sources said foul play was “not suspected” and there were no signs of anything violent or “sinister” having occurred.
“A postmortem is expected to take place on the body of the deceased, the results of which will determine the course of the investigation,” a Garda spokesman said.
The Irish Prison Service confirmed that “there was a death of a person in custody” at Mountjoy on Wednesday and that his next of kin have been notified.
“This death in custody will be investigated by the Irish Prison Service, the Inspector of Prisons and An Garda Síochána, where circumstances warrant, and the cause of death is determined by the Coroner’s Office,” it added.
Keane and Mr Treacy were initially held by the McCarthy-Dundon gang at one of the gang’s houses in order to lure Keane’s associates, brothers Philip and Kieran Collopy. Stanners and his four associates were convicted on Mr Treacy’s testimony that all five accused acted as part of a joint enterprise.
Mr Treacy told the court that he watched his uncle “being pushed to the ground like a dog and shot like a dog, with his hands tied behind his back”. He identified Stanners as the man who shot his uncle dead and stabbed him numerous times, leaving him for dead.
When Stanners was arrested, he claimed he had been “home watching telly with my kids” on the night of the kidnapping and murder.