Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh ordered to pay €1.7m or spend 12 more years behind bars
Gangster Kavanagh, 57, who headed UK operations for the Kinahan cartel, has been given three months to pay the sum or face another 12 years in prison, the National Crime Agency in the UK announced on Friday.
'Bomber' Kavanagh, from Drimnagh in Dublin, was jailed for 21 years in the UK in March 2022 for orchestrating the importation of multi-million-pound drug shipments worth around €34 million (£30 million) at UK street value. He also admitted being involved in the illegal trafficking of firearms and money-laundering.
Another high-ranking Kinahan gang member, Gary Vickery, 43, was arrested in October 2017 after NCA officers seized 15 kilos of cocaine and more than 220 kilos of cannabis which was found inside a six-tonne industrial tarmac removal machine in Dover. Gary Vickery (37)
The development was announced on Friday by the NCA, who described Kavanagh as "the head of the Kinahan Crime Group in the UK."
Subsequent investigations showed Kavanagh was heading up the criminal enterprise, and he was arrested at Birmingham Airport as he returned from holiday in January 2019.
Following his sentencing, the National Crime Agency investigators began looking into the gang's finances and assets for seizure under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Officers estimated that Kavanagh's criminal profits were in the region of €13.7m but recoverable assets amounted to €1.7m.
This includes his 50 per cent share of his fortified family mansion in Tamworth, Staffordshire, money from the sale of various other properties in the UK and a villa in Spain, and approximately €171,000 of high-end bags, clothes and accessories which were discovered when Kavanagh's house was searched following his initial arrest in 2019.
Vickery was also subject to the POCA hearing and has been ordered to pay back around €124,000 within three months or face another two years in prison.
At previous hearings orders were made to forfeit an Audemars Piguet watch worth €85,000, as well as just over €100,000 that was seized from a hotel room when Vickery was arrested.
In October 2024, Thomas Kavanagh admitted additional firearms offences and perverting the course of justice, after NCA officers uncovered an elaborate plan that Kavanagh hoped would significantly reduce his prison sentence. PICTURED: Thomas Kavanagh Arrest The Fall of Bomber Kavanagh on Virgin.
Kavanagh directed his trusted associates Shaun Kent and Liam Byrne to purchase firearms and ammunition and bury them so he could reveal their whereabouts to NCA investigators. All three were jailed for a total of 17 years, with Kavanagh's six years to be served on top of his 21-year sentence. Liam Byrne (left) and Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh (right)
Kay Mellor, Head of Operations HQ at the National Crime Agency, said: "Thomas Kavanagh was the head of the UK's arm of the Kinahan organised crime group, responsible for the importation and distribution of drugs and firearms, making millions of pounds in the process.
"He 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.
"We will continue to use every tool at our disposal to target, disrupt and dismantle organised crime groups, deprive them of their assets and ensure they face justice".
Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor, said: "Thomas Kavanagh and Gary 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.
"In the last five years, over £478 million has been recovered from CPS obtained Confiscation Orders, ensuring that thousands of convicted criminals cannot benefit from their offending. £95 million of that amount has been returned to victims of crime, by way of compensation."
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