Man paid €10,000 to murder friend confessed to ex-girlfriend while taking cocaine

A violent criminal who was paid €10,000 to lure his friend to a country lane and murder him, confessed to his ex-girlfriend while high on cocaine that he had committed the crime, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

“He would tell you everything after sniffing,” the woman told gardaí of Conor Dolan, who was jailed for life on Thursday for the murder of Neil Fitzgerald. Dolan, who has 32 previous convictions, shot Mr Fitzgerald in the back before repeatedly shooting him as the 36-year-old tried to escape.

Dolan (33), with an address at Ashbrook Apartments, Navan Road, Dublin 7, pleaded guilty in July to murdering Mr Fitzgerald at Hills Lane, Crooksling, Tallaght on June 5th, 2016.

Prosecution counsel Lorcan Staines SC told the court that Mr Fitzgerald’s body was found on a quiet lane where south Dublin turns into countryside on the route from Tallaght towards Blessington, Co Wicklow. He was, Mr Staines said, “riddled with bullets” having been shot six times.

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Mr Staines said that Dolan, while high on cocaine, confided in his ex-girlfriend that he carried out the murder for €20,000, but had only been paid €10,000.

Det Garda Conor Harrison agreed with Mr Staines that Dolan and the deceased were “friends, with an element of trust” between them.

Mr Staines said that Dolan drove a “distinctive” purple BMW and was seen on CCTV picking up a package through his window at a Topaz filling station in Citywest on June 4th, 2016, the day before the murder. It was the State’s case that the package contained the firearm he used to kill his friend.

Mr Fitzgerald had been drinking in Madison’s pub in Tallaght on the afternoon of June 4th before Dolan collected him in the BMW. The car was stopped at 10.30pm on Fortunestown Road and searched by Det Garda Harrison and other gardaí, but no weapon was found.

Mr Staines said the two men travelled in the car that night to the site where Mr Fitzgerald was murdered. The two men returned to Tallaght and eventually went back to the country lane where Mr Fitzgerald was murdered shortly after midnight on June 5th. Counsel said mobile phone data analysis revealed that Dolan again went back to the murder site at around 7am.

Det Garda Harrison said he and other gardaí carried out a search under warrant of Dolan’s house on June 6th and saw a fire lighting in the livingroom on what was a warm summer’s day. He said there was a marigold glove and a “burner phone” capable of operating two Sim cards simultaneously in the fire.

The detective said he arrested Dolan on suspicion of withholding information, telling the court he had concerns he was “suppressing the truth” by claiming that he could not remember the events of the night before.

In 12 Garda interviews between June 6th and 8th, 2016, Dolan denied any involvement in the murder and was released. He was rearrested in February 2017 when further information came to light but exercised his right to silence when interviewed by gardaí.

Det Garda Harrison agreed with Mr Staines that a cell site “dump” of phone information revealed that only two phones not belonging to local residents were in the area of the murder site on the night - those of Dolan and Mr Fitzgerald.

He agreed with Mr Staines that Dolan’s former girlfriend made a statement to gardaí saying she learned from news reports that Mr Fitzgerald had been murdered. After his release from Garda custody, Dolan went to the woman’s home and began taking cocaine.

Mr Staines said she told gardaí that “he [Dolan] would tell you everything after sniffing”.

Counsel said Dolan’s ex-girlfriend told gardaí that Dolan had told Mr Fitzgerald that he had to pick up something in the bushes near the laneway and they began searching the area on the night of the murder.

Mr Staines said Dolan told his ex-girlfriend that he took a gun from the boot of the car and came up behind Mr Fitzgerald and shot him in the back. Mr Fitzgerald managed to start running away but Dolan then shot him multiple times as he was falling.

Mr Staines said that Dolan’s ex-girlfriend told gardaí that Dolan had complained of being promised €20,000 for the murder but had only received €10,000. She said Dolan returned to the murder site the next morning and described to her how Mr Fitzgerald’s body looked as the sun came up.

Det Gda Harrison said Dolan’s previous convictions included offences such as aggravated burglary, assault causing serious harm, drug offences and assaulting a peace officer in the course of their duty.

Ms Justice Eileen Creedon extended her sympathy to the family of Mr Fitzgerald, who was known as Ozzie, and said “the only sentence open to the court” for Dolan was life imprisonment.

She back-dated the sentence to May 15th, 2020, when Dolan was arrested and placed in custody at Dublin Airport by Det Garda Harrison upon his extradition from the UK.