Background:Paul Reay's list of previous convictions suggests a life of drunkenness, not underworld criminality. He had faced the courts in the past on charges of drink-driving, assault and public-order offences, writes Conor Lally, Crime Correspondent.
But last August his entry into the criminal big time was confirmed when he and two others were discovered by gardaí working in a cocaine processing plant in Co Meath. It appears now that his arrest and charge sealed his fate.
His murder yesterday came six years after the killing of his father, Ned, a respectable civil servant. The 46-year-old was beaten to death by drunken youths in a late-night row close to the family home.
Reay jnr was one of a new breed of not-so-smart criminals being used by Dublin gangs to access the rapidly growing population - and drug market - in counties surrounding the capital. The financial rewards are great, but so too is the risk.
When drugs go missing or are seized by gardaí, somebody has to pay. Yesterday morning the 26-year-old father of three paid with his life.
At the time of his murder he was leaving home for a court appearance in Kells, Co Meath, to face the very criminal charges which gardaí suspect may be linked to his murder.
On August 5th, a team of gardaí surrounded an outhouse at a property in Mooneystown near Athboy, Co Meath. Some of the officers walked right up to the window and looked inside.
They saw a cocaine processing plant at work. Three men were busily using blenders to mix pure cocaine with a glucose bulking agent, readying it for sale in the pubs and clubs of Louth, Meath and Westmeath.
A Navan man and two others from Drogheda were arrested at the scene. One of those men was Paul Reay.
When the haul was analysed it was valued at €400,000. A subsequent search yielded nine firearms and ammunition.
A 40ft-container adjacent to the garage was full of stolen generators and power tools, worth up to €50,000 each.
The investigation was part of the expansion to the regions of Operation Anvil. It was a huge success for gardaí but, it now seems, a death warrant for Paul Reay.
Gardaí believe the drugs found were supplied by a large syndicate in west Dublin that had killed before. Sources said the Dublin gang had lost money due to the drugs seizure and Reay had no way of paying them back. Officers believe the Dublin gang may have killed the young Louth man to make it clear to others that, in the underworld, bad debts are never written off.