A Tallaght man has been jailed for six years for the false imprisonment of four men during what the Special Criminal Court described as "gang warfare". The incident happened at a warehouse in Ballymount Industrial estate in 1999.
Denis Thompson, (23) of Cloonmore Avenue, Tallaght, was yesterday jailed after he pleaded guilty to four counts of the false imprisonment of Mr David Hooper, Mr Anthony Deegan, Mr John Finnegan and Mr Gavin Daly on October 6th, 1999, at Ballymount Road Industrial Estate, Walkinstown.
Two rival gangs, one linked to a Dublin criminal, the other linked to the INLA, were involved in a violent confrontation. Thompson was just four weeks out of prison at the time. Yesterday, the three-judge court sentenced him to six years' imprisonment because it was satisfied he organised the INLA-linked gang to be there and that he also sprang the trap that led to members of the rival gang being beaten, interrogated and threatened.
Mr Justice Frederick Morris said the incident was "an extremely serious case of gang warfare which had the eventual result of the death of one of the people partaking in it".
Belfast INLA man Patrick Campbell was fatally injured from a beating at the scene. He died days later in Tallaght hospital.