Thug who had hand blown off in ‘pipe-bomb' incident was violent gang member

Sunday World

9 hours ago

Violent thug who had hand blown off in 'pipe-bomb' incident was member of gang that terrorised a mother and her three-year-old daughter
This is the 35-year-old thug whose hand was blown off in an incident involving a suspected pipe-bomb in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
A gruesome image of the horrific injuries sustained by career criminal Dean Fagan have circulated on WhatsApp and show how his hand was completely obliterated prior to his arrival at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin.
In a statement, Gardaí confirmed they had 'attended the scene following report of an incident of criminal damage at a residential location in Coolock that occurred in the early hours of Wednesday.'
The statement continued: 'A man, aged in his 30s, subsequently received treatment for serious injuries at Beaumont Hospital Dublin.'
Gardaí are investigating whether the incident of criminal damage is linked to a low-level feud in which Fagan has become embroiled. Fagan, with an address on Kildare Road in Crumlin, is known to Gardaí as a prolific criminal, having clocked up more than 80 convictions over the past two decades.
One of his most serious convictions dates back to 2017, when he was jailed for five years after he admitted being a member of a gang who terrorised a woman and her three-year-old daughter during a burglary in Co. Meath.
During the ordeal which lasted over an hour, a knife was held to the woman's throat for several minutes, while a gun was later pointed at her head.
Fagan pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated burglary in May 2014 at Irishtown, Rathfeigh, Co. Meath.
He later admitted his involvement when fingerprints found on a piece of paper linked him to the crime.
In 2016, Fagan received a six-year-sentence after a court heard how during a separate robbery, he was armed with a garden shears when he and an accomplice tied up a woman and destroyed her home looking for cash. Dean Fagan told the other man 'don't f*cking kill her' after this man hit the victim with a hammer while demanding cash.
They had already taken €1,500 they had found in the sitting room of the house.
They also told the woman they were in the Real IRA and that they had been responsible for burning her car out a month previously.
The woman managed to escape through a back door and locked the intruders inside.
Fagan was involved in another high-profile incident in which two sisters, Amy and Nicole Rice, were tied up and assaulted in Co. Kildare in 2015.
Fagan later went on Dublin radio station 98FM and admitted to tying the girls up and to hitting them.
Dean Fagan
News in 90 Seconds - 15th June 2025
The sisters had come forward a month earlier to tell the story of how they were brutally attacked by two men they met on Facebook in a 20-hour ordeal in Newbridge. Fagan, who had almost 60 convictions for offences including possession of a firearm and criminal damage at that stage, called the station to claim that the incident did not happen as it was portrayed.
Fagan told the radio station that he was fighting with a man who was known to the girls and this was why trouble had broken out.
At the time, sources said that Fagan and his associate owed a debt to this other man.
Despite admitting to hitting and tying up the girls, Fagan tried to claim they made up the story to get paid money from newspapers for their story.
However, the girls did not receive any payment for their story.
He went on to say that he attacked the girls because they wouldn't calm down.
'I had no choice but to do that [hit them a few slaps] it's a horrible thing to say. '
'At this time, I was wanted. I had warrants for a separate thing,' he said.
'I am not saying I'm an angel in anyone's eyes. I've got convictions for some serious sh*t, but I didn't do this,' he added.
'When you go to jail, and people think you have done sh*t like this you get boiling water and p*ss thrown at you. And when you are on the wings people throw shapes at you.
'I couldn't throw them out and call the cops because I had warrants out for my arrest.'
A month before his radio appearance, Fagan was convicted in his absence over an incident where he ploughed into a Garda patrol van and car after crashing into three other vehicles in traffic during a road rampage in west Dublin in August the previous year.
The previous March he was convicted of possession of a stolen shotgun, ammunition, and other items.
While in custody in Cloverhill Prison in October 2014, Fagan was the 'victim' of a hostage taking situation in his cell which led to a lockdown of the prison.
Convicted murderer Ciaran Moran tied Fagan up and threatened to slit his throat.
Moran had knocked Fagan unconscious before tying him up and cutting his head with a homemade bladed weapon or shiv.
The hostage situation ended after 90 minutes when Moran walked out of the prison cell.
At Moran's subsequent trial, at the conclusion of which the convicted killer received a three-year sentence, Garda Kevin Mullahy agreed that gardaí harboured some suspicions about the incident after counsel said there may have been some sort of collusion between the victim and Moran and that the incident was possibly connected with a claim against the State.
Fagan remained in the care of doctors at Beaumont hospital yesterday where its understood he underwent surgery for his injuries to his hand.
Gardai are continuing their investigations into the incident that cost him his hand early Wednesday.
Anyone with information relating to the incident is asked to contact Coolock Garda Station on 01 6664200.