Kinahan gang leader Liam Byrne (43) has been sentenced to five years in prison for weapons charges, while his co-accused Thomas Kavanagh (57) has been sentenced to six years for similar offences.
Both had pleaded guilty to the weapons charges, while Kavanagh had also admitted perverting the course of justice.
When time already served in custody is taken into account and, in the case of Kavanagh, the sentence is added consecutively to others he is already serving, the jail terms delivered today suggest Byrne could be released just in time for Christmas next year, while Kavanagh will serve roughly another decade behind bars.
The men’s co-accused, Shaun Kent (38) from Liverpool, was also sentenced to six years. He could be released shortly , as he has already spent time in custody roughly equating to half of his six-year sentence that he would be expected to serve.
Byrne, from Crumlin, his fellow Dubliner and brother-in-law Thomas “Bomber” Kavanagh and Kent admitted to orchestrating a weapons ruse to get a lighter sentence for Kavanagh in a separate drugs case. They hatched a plot in 2020 designed to fool Britain’s National Crime Agency into believing Kavanagh, based near Birmingham, had been co-operative.
Old Bailey judge Philip Katz said Kavanagh had “pulled the strings” on the operation, as he added his six year sentence to others of 21 years and three years that he had already been serving. The judge said Byrne’s sentence was reduced “substantially” because of difficulties in his life such as the recent death of his father, James Byrne.
The gang secretly amassed a haul of firearms, including submachine guns and pistols, and buried them near Newry in the North. Kavanagh then approached the NCA in 2020 and 2021 and told officers he was aware of an arms shipment. He provided a map with X marking the spot where the guns, amassed for this purpose, would be found.
Kavanagh, who was behind bars, enlisted the help of Kent to ferry messages to other gang members. They communicated via the secure, encrypted messaging service EncroChat, which was later breached by police, unveiling the plot.
Byrne used the EncroChat handle Thai Live and was also referred to by gang members as Gargler, while Kent used the names Firm Cleaner and Marcos Cafu. They referred to Kavanagh in their messages as Big Head, Pops and Our Mate.
Byrne, whose brother David Byrne was murdered at a feud shooting at Dublin’s Regency hotel in 2016, and Kent procured the weapons along with other men, and arranged for their burial in Newry.
Kavanagh had hoped that by providing information about a guns shipment, the NCA would tell a judge he had been co-operative and he would get a shorter drugs sentence. However, the ruse was foiled when French police breached EncroChat and sent the gang’s messages to the NCA. Kavanagh subsequently received a 21 year sentence at a crown court in Ipswich on the drugs charges, on top of three years for carrying a stun gun.
Kavanagh was effectively the UK leader of the Kinahan cartel, while Byrne was its leader in the Republic. He was described in court as “subordinate” to Kavanagh. The sentencing of Byrne in particular will be seen as another milestone in legal efforts to bring down the cartel, which following David Byrne’s murder entered a bloody feud with a rival gang associated with associates of Gerry Hutch.
That feud cost at least 18 lives, with the overwhelming majority of the dead being people associated with the Hutch side as the Kinahan cartel sought to wipe out its rival.
During the sentencing hearing, Jeremy Dein KC, barrister for Byrne, told the Old Bailey that his client had not been in trouble for “almost a quarter of a century” and had suffered emotional strain recently following the death of his father.
Mr Dein said Liam Byrne was a spray painter, and “never wants to find himself in this position again”. He also said he hadn’t seen two of his children since he had entered Belmarsh prison last summer. Byrne’s lawyer had urged the judge to be lenient with his client, whom he said intended to lead “a good and honest life when he is released”.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
