Gardai probing ‘arson' attack in Finglas house blaze as incident may be revenge on relative
Sources have confirmed to the Sunday World that officers investigating the fire, which broke out early Friday morning, are treating it as an incident of 'criminal damage.'
Flames and smoke billow from the property not far from the home of Mr Flashy
The scene of the suspected arson attack in Finglas
GardaÍ investigating a blaze that engulfed a home on Deanstown Green in Finglas on Friday morning are now probing it as a suspected arson attack.
Sources have confirmed to the Sunday World that officers investigating the fire, which broke out early Friday morning, are treating it as an incident of 'criminal damage.'
A motive for the attack is now being sought.
One line of inquiry is that the blaze may have been deliberately started as a revenge attack against a relative of the innocent property-owner.
'The suspicion is that this relative has made a number of enemies due to his own criminal activities,' a local source told the Sunday World.
'He is suspected of being behind a campaign of thefts in the area and has amassed a lot of enemies because of this.'
The location of Friday morning's suspected arson attack is just a couple of hundred yards from the home of Glen Ward – the man identified in court as the gangster nicknamed 'Mr Flashy'.
However, the attack is not believed to be linked to Ward or his rivals – and none of the people living in the home are involved with the so-called Flashy gang.
Ward (32) pleaded guilty last month in the Special Criminal Court to possessing a Remington AR-15 semi- automatic rifle at his North Dublin home in February 2022.
Flames and smoke billow from the property
Ward earned the nickname Mr Flashy because of his love for designer clothes, expensive watches and luxury holidays.
He directed the activities of a gang known as the 'Gucci Gang.'
The gang has been involved in a number of violent gangland feuds which led to the deaths of both Zachary Parker and Sean Little and their associates Jordan Davis and Hamid Sanambar.'
Ward's brother, Eric O'Driscoll (23), also pleaded guilty to possession of the same gun as his more infamous brother.
During a sentencing hearing for O'Driscoll last year, it was heard that during a search of a home in Finglas in February 2022, gardaí recovered the semi-automatic rifle along with a military grade sub-machine gun and ammunition.
The guns were found to be in good condition and were successfully fired by a Garda ballistics examiner, the detective said.
Det Insp Kelly said analysts found a video clip on the phone in which O'Driscoll could be seen taking the AR-15 rifle from another man and firing it from the rear of a home in Finglas.
A source told the Sunday World that following the incarceration of Ward, people hoped criminality in the area would die down.
'People are hoping this attack is an isolated event and not the start of a fresh round of tit for tat violence,' the source said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sunday World
7 hours ago
- Sunday World
Judge tells man whose partner died after festival drug use it is ‘one of the saddest cases'
The court heard that Mr Carroll and his girlfriend had attended the Forbidden Fruit festival on June 2, 2024, where they both consumed drugs A 24-year-old man whose partner died after they both took drugs following a music festival has avoided a conviction for simple possession, in what a judge described as "one of the saddest cases" to come before his court. The District Court was told that the defendant Brian Carroll has now made a commitment to living a "drug-free life". Mr Carroll, of Cedarmount Road, Mount Merrion, Co Dublin pleaded guilty to possession of MDMA and cannabis and appeared before Judge Conor Fottrell at Dún Laoghaire District Court on Wednesday. Stock image News in 90 Seconds - 7th June The court heard that Mr Carroll and his girlfriend had attended the Forbidden Fruit festival on June 2, 2024, where they both consumed drugs, while further substances were taken later at a house in south Dublin. The woman was found unresponsive later that night and died as a result. Mr Carroll had been in a relationship with the deceased for two and a half years. Gardaí who carried out a search of the house recovered cannabis worth €44, €16 of MDMA and a small quantity of cocaine. Garda Harry Poole told the court that the drugs were for personal use and were at the lower end of the scale. The court heard that Mr Carroll later voluntarily attended a garda station, gave a full account of what occurred and has not come to garda attention since. Judge Fottrell initially questioned whether the District Court had jurisdiction to hear the case, given the serious background circumstances. 'I appreciate the plea before the court today, but this is a serious matter,' he said. 'I'm not sure it's a District Court matter.' Defence solicitor Mark O'Sullivan said it was a tragic accident and argued that the case before the court concerned a minor possession matter. 'That's all the court is being asked to hear today,' he said. After considering the details, Judge Fottrell accepted jurisdiction. 'On the basis of what's before me, the circumstances are tragic. I'll accept jurisdiction.' Mr O'Sullivan told the court that Mr Carroll and the deceased had bought the drugs together, but the woman had taken more than his client. He said his client was fully cooperative, had no previous convictions, and had voluntarily presented himself to Gardaí. Letters were handed into court from Kilmacud Medical Centre and the Community Addiction Response Programme. The court heard Mr Carroll had engaged in trauma counselling following the incident, tested negative for drugs in recent months and remained in full-time employment. He had also volunteered with Little Flower Penny Dinners during the Covid-19 pandemic. The woman's father and sister were present in court. 'On behalf of my client, I extend our sympathies to the family,' Mr O'Sullivan said. 'Relations remain good between them. This was an absolute tragedy.' In a personal letter to the court, the man expressed remorse and a commitment to living a drug-free life. Judge Fottrell acknowledged the man's remorse, the steps he had taken since and the tragic nature of the case. 'This is a tragic case,' he said. 'The consequences were anything but minor. However, the value of the drugs involved is low, and there are no previous convictions". 'You've pleaded guilty, made full admissions, and taken meaningful steps since. I don't propose to impose a conviction. "This is one of the most unusual and saddest cases to come before the court. I hope you continue your recovery," the judge said, addressing the defendant. Judge Fottrell concluded the matter without a conviction, following a €1,000 charitable donation. Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.
Sunday World
11 hours ago
- Sunday World
Road rage driver punched after she confronted neighbour about his crazy driving
Tammy Sparkes appeared in court to face her THIRD shocking road rage attack earlier this year. Elliott's car after it was rammed off the road Ulster's angriest driver Tammy Sparkes was battered by Ulster's craziest driver who freakishly happened to be her next door neighbour! Tammy Sparkes was dubbed the country's angriest driver earlier this year when she appeared in court to face her THIRD shocking road rage attack. Those hat-trick of separate incidents saw the 29-year-old mum tear clumps of hair from a terrified woman, punch a police officer, repeatedly kick a car causing almost £2,000 worth of damage and grab a neighbour by the hair while driving her car — dragging the woman along. But Sparkes was the victim of a terrifying incident at the hands of Ulster's craziest driver after she confronted him for ramming her partner's car through a fence. Paul Lawrence Dunstan was jailed last week for seven months — but released to appeal — for a crazy rampage which saw him repeatedly punch Sparkes in the face in April last year before he himself was punched unconscious by a crowd who'd witnessed his insane driving. Tammy Sparkes with her partner Stephen Elliott speaking to reporter Steven Moore The 43-year-old, who ironically runs a car body repair business, was plastered when he got into his van and started repeatedly ramming Stephen Elliott's Peugeot 208 car — forcing it back over 30 yards through a corrugated iron fence and into the back garden of another house — just missing a man who was standing in the garden at the time. The pair lived beside each other for three years in Loverock Close in Bangor, though Dunstan has since moved out. Dunstan, who had 17 previous convictions, claimed he reacted after discovering someone had stabbed his tyres and keyed his car — something Tammy Sparkes and Stephen Elliott say had nothing to do with them. Speaking to the Sunday World this week, Tammy Sparkes said: 'It was around 9.30pm when I heard all this revving and screeching and went out to see Paul Dunstan reversing his big van into Stephen's car over and over again. 'He just kept going, the car alarm was going off, and the car was getting forced backwards towards this metal fence. 'He was out of his mind. When I went out he got out of his van he just sat down on the pavement and then he got up and started punching me repeatedly in the head. It was really scary. 'I had a black eye and a concussion as well as cuts and bruises.' Stephen Elliott's Peugeot 208 car These images show the damage caused to Mr Elliott's car, which had to be lifted from it's final resting place with a crane and was immediately written-off. 'I've had to find money for a new car,' says Stephen Elliott. 'I still had finance on the car he wrecked and the insurance didn't cover it all. Where's the compensation for that? 'All he got was seven months for battering Tammy and for ramming my car through a fence? And he has the cheek to appeal it?' Stephen says he admits he punched Dunstan when he came out and saw him attacking Tammy. 'I decked him, of course I did, what else could I do? But then some people came from over the fence from when he'd rammed my car into and they gave him a bad doing.' Court News NI reported how Dunstan, with an address listed as Drumglass Avenue in Bangor, committed offences at Loverock Close in Bangor where he had been living at the time. Dunstan had contested a charge of dangerous driving but his lawyer said the defendant was admitting careless driving. He was convicted at an earlier court sitting of charges of dangerous diving, assault, and failing to provide a breath sample. At the earlier sitting of Ards Magistrates' Court, footage of the incident had been shown to District Judge Peter Magill. Tammy Sparkes had told that court how she was in her home at Loverock Close when she heard revving, 'loads of screeching' and a car alarm going off. Tammy Sparkes and her partner Stephen Eillott News in 90 Seconds - 7th June She looked out the window and saw the defendant reversing his van into her partner's car. Judge Magill said the footage showed a Peugeot car being deliberately rammed several times by a reversing van 'until he pushed it through a fence into a garden'. The judge said the footage then showed a woman being repeatedly punched in the face before a man 'comes out and defends her'. Tammy Sparkes said she was 'concussed' and left with a black eye, cuts to her face, her nose was bleeding badly and she had bruises on her arm. The court was told after the car ended up in a garden of a property in the next street a number of people had assaulted Dunstan. Dunstan told the court his van had been 'keyed' and had two tyres 'stabbed'. He told the court: 'I suppose I lost the plot.' He said he thought he was pushing the car into a tree. Judge Magill had told the defendant at the earlier court: 'This was vigilantism. This was you taking the law into your own hands.' The defendant said after the reversing incident he was assaulted and was unconscious for a time. The judge said the footage clearly showed the defendant punching Tammy Sparkes repeatedly. The defendant said after going into his house he drank half a litre of vodka and took six co-codamol tablets. He claimed a 'shortness of breath' meant he was unable to give a breath sample, as a result of 'smoking and a fire I was involved in a long time ago'. He said he had been confused and didn't remember being asked for a sample of blood after he was taken to hospital. Judge Magill told the earlier court Dunstan had damaged his neighbour's car and he did so by 'repeatedly reversing his larger vehicle into it and it ended up in a garden, on the way damaging a hedge and a fence. 'It is obvious that he launched a determined assault upon the woman. He struck her multiple times with both fists to her head and face'. The judge said it was 'ludicrous' for the defendant to claim the driving had been careless driving as it was 'obviously dangerous driving' and convicted him of the charges. During sentencing this week a prosecutor said Dunstan was 'obviously intoxicated, he was unsteady on his feet, his eyes were bloodshot, he had some sort of altercation as his face was swollen and there was a cut on his forehead'. A defence barrister said the defendant runs a car body repair shop and the loss of his licence would impact on the business. She said the defendant said his vehicle had been 'attacked' and he reacted. He had 'acted in self-defence'. Judge Magill said it had been 'utterly appalling behaviour'. He jailed Dunstan for seven months and banned him from driving for two years as well as issuing a two-year restraining order. The defendant was given bail for appeal and is allowed to drive pending the outcome of the appeal. In March Tammy Sparkes was handed a three-month sentence, suspended for two years, as District Judge Peter Magill said her behaviour was 'utterly unacceptable' but spared her jail because of her child. He gave her a year to compensate her latest victim, whose car cost £1,868 to fix, warning that if she did not make a significant hole in the debt, she would go to jail. Last year, in an unrelated attack, she entered guilty pleas to six offences arising from a minor shunt including careless driving, causing actual bodily harm, causing criminal damage, using disorderly behaviour, assaulting a police officer and breaching a suspended jail sentence. The driver of a Jaguar, which Sparkes had driven into, told police how she pulled up at the junction but was struck by Sparkes' Audi. When they got out to swap insurance details, Sparkes 'began assaulting her by grabbing her by the hair and pulling out clumps of hair'. 'Officers at the scene looked down and could see a large clump of hair lying on the ground,' the court heard, adding that at the time Sparkes was subject to a suspended sentence imposed in a different court but for a similar offence. In July 2022 at Newtownards Magistrates Court, Sparkes was handed a four-month prison sentence suspended for three years along with a £400 compensation order after she entered guilty pleas to careless driving and causing actual bodily harm to a woman on May 6, 2021.
Sunday World
11 hours ago
- Sunday World
Man with 145 convictions held knife to woman's throat during cocaine-fuelled burglary
Defendant with 145 previous convictions stated drugs 'blew the socks off me' This was after the man crashed a stolen car close to where she lived in Gyles Quay, a popular North Louth beach which was packed with cars on a sunny Sunday afternoon last year. James McDonagh (38), Dominic Street, Newry, Co. Down, appeared before Dundalk Circuit Court via video link for a sentence hearing. He has been in custody since the offending occurred. He pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary, unlawfully using a car without consent, dangerous driving and driving without insurance, at Gyles Quay on June 23, 2024. Other charges including false imprisonment of a female are being taken into consideration. He told Gardaí who arrested him at the scene that he had taken too much cocaine. 'It blew the socks off me'. The defendant, one of 13 children, moved to Newry from Dundalk, and has 145 previous convictions on both sides of the border. Judge Dara Hayes adjourned the matter to June 19 and said that there will be a 'significant sentence'. Gardaí had been alerted by the PSNI about a stolen BMW which had crossed the border. A car was spotted acting suspiciously around Bellurgan, north of Dundalk, but despite extensive searches throughout the early hours of the morning it could not to be located. Around 2pm this car was seen on the main Carlingford Road. It turned for Gyles Quay and went into a car park. Gyles Quay basking in glorious sunshine on a day similar to the incident. Photo: Ken Finegan/ News in 90 Seconds - 7th June Det Gda Eimear Gallagher in plain clothes and a colleague wearing full uniform approached the BMW. Its driver's door was open. A man was in the front seat. He didn't engage with the officers and reached down. Det Gda Gallagher testified that she feared he had a weapon. The driver turned on the ignition. She asked him to get out. By this stage the other guard was standing in front of the car. The engine was being revved and Det Gda Gallagher told her colleague to move. At that point Mr McDonagh took off at such speed that the car was 'bouncing' across the potholed surface as he left the car park. The two Gardaí raced to their vehicle and once on the move activated the blue lights and siren to try to get the BMW to stop and to warn pedestrians. One man had to lift a buggy containing a child out of the way to avoid being hit by the defendant as he sped past. Read more The car struck a parked van and as it continued back towards the main road it mounted a footpath on which there were a lot of pedestrians before colliding with a wall and coming to a stop. The driver got out and ran. He had a large silver knife in his right hand and a hammer in the other. He scaled a fence and ran along the beach towards Ferguson's caravan park. Meanwhile, a woman living in a bungalow at the park was sitting on a sofa. It was so warm she had the back doors open. Suddenly, around 3pm, a man came through the door with what she described as a butcher's knife. He had something else in his other hand but she was only focused on the knife. He had blood on his face. He screamed for her car keys and demanded money. The woman's young son came out of his room and was screaming. The woman was in such fear that she was willing to co-operate to protect her son. She couldn't find the keys. McDonagh held the knife to her throat until she found them. While this was going on armed Gardaí had arrived outside. The victim saw them. The man ran and was chased through the house by the guards and out the back door. Det Gda Gallagher told the mother and child to stay inside and not come out until Gardaí returned. Outside, one of the other officers pulled his gun and the man lay down on grass. He was arrested there by Det Gda Gallagher at 3.04pm, some 500m from the house. The man said: 'I think I took too much cocaine. It blew the socks off me. I took the car. I didn't know it was wanted. I was driving nice and slow. I was washing up 'Coke' to do 'Crack'. 'I didn't know they were guards. I put the boot down and drove off. I panicked and I crashed.' Later, he added: 'Jesus, I didn't do a burglary, did I? Only slagging.' McDonagh said that he wasn't going to use the knife. "I was only scaring her. I saw youse outside and I ran. You got me.' He denied putting a knife to the woman's throat. "She walked to me. She must have wanted a claim or something.' "I could get big time. I'm sorry for what I said and what I did.' He signed the memos of interview. The court heard of 145 previous convictions – 85 in the Republic of Ireland and sixty in the North. These included unauthorised taking of vehicles, theft, possession of a knife, robbery, trespass, assault, burglary, assaulting police and drugs possession. Gda Laura O'Connor read out out a harrowing Victim Impact Statement which detailed how the woman and her family had moved to Ireland hoping for a safe and better quality of life. Her husband lost his life tragically here. She spoke of her son screaming for his life and the ongoing consequences of the attack. She felt completely unsafe in her own home. There were flashbacks of the knife against her throat. Her son's terrifying screams haunted her. She thanked the Gardaí. It was stated in a probation report that James McDonagh accepted full responsibility. He had taken a combination of drugs with whiskey when he stole the vehicle in Northern Ireland to sell across the border to buy cocaine. He identified as a member of the Travelling community, the second youngest of 13 children. His parents moved to Newry and he intends to live with his brother in Dundalk. Single, and the father of two adult children, he had never worked and was reliant on social welfare. The defendant was on methadone and continued to use drugs in custody. He was assessed at high risk of reoffending. Judge Hayes said that he was grateful to the victim for coming to court. It was of much assistance to him. 'It was a horrifying experience for you and your son. I'm dreadfully sorry. It's unimaginable how awful it must have been for you and your son.' The judge said these were extremely serious offences. He allowed time for a drugs counsellor's report to be prepared. Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme
