A newspaper article with accompanying blanked out photographs referring to "the fat heads" meant two Dublin brothers were leaders of the most dangerous criminal gang operating in Dublin's underworld and had made €4 million from crimes including gun crime and money-laundering, it was claimed in the High Court yesterday.
Brothers Alan and Wayne Bradley have alleged libel in the article published in the Irish Daily Star Sunday newspaper on June 13th, 2004. Alan Bradley (32), Churchfield, Kentstown, Co Meath, and Wayne Bradley (27), Cherryfield Lawn, Clonsilla, Dublin, have taken their proceedings against Independent Star Ltd, Terenure Road North, Dublin.
Opening the case yesterday, Paul O'Higgins SC, for the brothers, said they were horrified and shocked to read the article which bore the headline "Inside Gangland - Brothers In Arms" after they came back from a stag party trip to Liverpool in June 2004.
Mr O'Higgins said the article extended over two pages, was accompanied by photographs with the faces blanked out and said "The Fat Heads - Pictured this week by Star Sunday, the brothers aged 25 and 31 are responsible for a series of lucrative armed raids over the past four years." The article was accompanied by the headlines "Siblings leading the underworld's most dangerous armed gang". From an early age the Bradley brothers had been known as "Fat Heads", Mr O'Higgins said.
The brothers claim the article meant they were one of the leaders of the most dangerous criminal gang in Dublin's underworld and were guilty of carrying out armed raids and robberies.
It is further claimed the article could be understood to mean that the brothers had made €4 million from transit robberies, gun crime and money-laundering and that they were guilty of murder, violence and intimidation.
The Irish Daily Star Sunday denies libel, claims the brothers are not identified in the article and contends they are not defamed by the article. In evidence, Wayne Bradley said that when he and his brother got back from Liverpool in June 2004, his mother had the newspaper open on the kitchen table of the family home in Finglas. "My picture was in it and the nickname. My brother was standing beside me. I was disgusted. I was horrified. I could not believe I could read something like that," he told the jury. Mr Bradley said he was very angry and very hurt. He said it had turned his life upside down and people had turned against him and would not talk to him.
Mr Bradley said he also had been asked to leave two pubs in the Finglas area and he was very embarrassed and hurt by it.
Cross-examined by Mr Eoin McCullough SC, for the newspaper, Mr Bradley said he did not have a "string of convictions". He said he had one conviction for driving through a red light and not wearing a seat-belt.
He denied he had got a reputation "in a bad way " in the Finglas and Blanchardstown areas. When counsel put it to him that he had a reputation for involvement in serious crime, he said: "No".
The hearing continues.