Declan Curran's reign of gangland terror came to an abrupt end with his death at Cloverhill Prison, writes Conor Lally
When the Dublin criminal Declan Curran was found dead in his cell at Cloverhill Prison last Sunday, many gardaí viewed his passing as a rare case of underworld poetic justice. Curran was just 24 when he died, but in his short life had wreaked much havoc and misery in his west Dublin stomping ground.
Gardaí believe he had been directly involved in three recent gangland executions. He was a drug dealer, a drug user and a car thief. Gardaí also say he was involved in a series of armed robberies of financial institutions and cash-in-transit vans. He was jailed for three years in January 2001 after he rammed a Garda car at Ashbourne in July 2000. He had been trying to escape from gardaí by driving at 100 mph on the wrong side of the road while under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
He instilled fear in those around him and wasn't slow to use it to devastating effect. He went about killing, or badly injuring people he suspected of having information that might be passed on to gardaí and used against him.
In an incident in 1999 he was shot in the back and lost a kidney. He was a chronic cocaine user and prone to violent mood swings arising from his abuse of steroids. He also had ready access to an arsenal of firearms.
Three weeks ago, gardaí investigating this year's spate of robberies on cash-in-transit vans seized a machine gun, handgun, sawn-off shotgun and ammunition at a house in Clonee, Co Meath. Gardaí believe Curran owned most of the stash.
However, despite his criminal lifestyle, he never amassed any wealth and lived at the family home at Cardiffsbridge Avenue in Finglas at the time of his death.
Earlier this year, Dublin detectives believed they had sufficient evidence to convict Curran for the murder of Dubliner Willie O'Regan (33) in June 2003.
O'Regan was shot in the head and upper body by two gunmen at a flat on the New Cabra Road. Curran and O'Regan had been involved in a fight in the Finglas area a fortnight earlier and gardaí believe O'Regan was killed in a revenge attack. Curran was found wearing a bulletproof vest in bed when arrested for the murder last November.
When Curran went on trial at the Central Criminal Court in July the key witness for the prosecution was Curran's former partner, Christine Mahon. After the murder, she made a number of statements implicating her former lover. However, when she took to the witness box she said she could not remember making the statements to gardaí. The court heard that two gunmen entered her flat last April, but she denied in evidence that she was "terrified" into retracting her statements. Without her evidence, the trial collapsed.
Curran was released and quickly resumed his criminal ways. Along with his associates he carried out a number of drive-by shootings at the Finglas home of a family with whom he was embroiled in a long-term bitter feud.
Hours after his death last Sunday, Curran's associates again attacked the house of the same family, shooting and injuring one man who was at home at the time. They also shot at the house of a relative of Willie O'Regan.
The message was clear: Declan Curran may be dead but he hasn't gone away.
Curran's last criminal endeavour before his death was a botched raid on a bank at Sutton Cross, Dublin, on Thursday, November 11th. A female garda saw the crime in progress and disabled the armed Curran with her baton as he tried to escape. He was remanded to Cloverhill and found dead in his cell on Sunday morning by his two cellmates, who were related to him, after they returned from Mass. The ensuing post mortem was inconclusive and toxicology tests are awaited to confirm the cause of death.
However, in a marked departure from his life, foul play is not suspected in his death.