The confessions of a contract killer will lead to more convictions for high-profile murders in Limerick, writes Conor Lally
James Cahill appeared edgy and nervous when gardaí went to see him in Portlaoise Prison last May at his request. "They are going to kill me," he told the visiting detectives.
The 30-year-old Birmingham man then made a request to be transferred immediately to a more secure location before he confessed to one of Limerick's most high-profile murders, and named other people allegedly involved.
The murder was that of 34-year-old nightclub bouncer Brian Fitzgerald.
"I shot him and no one else," Cahill told gardaí. "I want to get this out of my system, I want to get this out in the open."
Cahill had been paid €10,000 to shoot Mr Fitzgerald in November 2002. However, by the time he requested to see gardaí last May, Cahill was terrified that the men who had hired him now wanted him dead to make sure he did not supply information to gardaí.
Cahill was so fearful he would be murdered in prison that he was willing to confess to his own role in Mr Fitzgerald's murder and implicate some of Ireland's most dangerous criminals in exchange for guarantees of his safety in jail from the prison authorities and gardaí.
Some of the information he has supplied to gardaí was heard in the Central Criminal Court last November when he was convicted of Mr Fitzgerald's murder and jailed for life.
Cahill told gardaí the murder was decided at a meeting in Limerick city in late 2002 at which he and a small number of criminals were present.
Cahill said that at the meeting an individual named at his trial, whose name cannot be printed, showed him how to use a firearm. In a reference to Mr Fitzgerald, he told Cahill to "Put one in that c***'s head", and started to laugh.
A man now being sought for extradition was also at the meeting. Cahill has told gardaí that this man directed the killing. The €10,000 for the contract killing was paid to him in two tranches of €5,000.
Cahill has told gardaí that on the night of the murder he went to Mr Fitzgerald's house at Brookhaven Walk, Corbally, Limerick, on a motorbike driven by an accomplice. They lay in wait for Mr Fitzgerald to come home from work as his wife and two children, aged six years and 15 months, were asleep in the family home.
When the victim arrived home in the early hours Cahill struck. He pointed the gun at the back of Mr Fitzgerald's head and pulled the trigger. After the first shots were fired, the victim, who had been hit in the upper body, tried to run to safety but was pursued by Cahill and gunned down. He was shot twice in the head as he lay dying on the ground.
The victim's wife Alice heard the first shots and came out of the house to investigate. She witnessed the fatal shots being fired.
Cahill, who has 10 previous convictions in Ireland and England for offences including possession of firearms, burglary, larceny, criminal damage, interfering with a motor vehicle and wounding, apologised to the Fitzgerald family after his trial.
From the witness stand he told Mr Justice Paul Carney: "I am willing to say that I will testify if a further case is coming."
His prediction that further cases would arise in relation to Mr Fitzgerald's murder has proven to be well-founded in light of the revelations in this newspaper today that the man who organised the killing is to be extradited from the UK.
The Irish Times understands that this man is not the only criminal figure from Limerick whom Cahill has implicated.
Gardaí are expected to bring charges against others in coming months.
Around 40 criminals from Limerick have been jailed since the feud in the city erupted in early 2003 when the Ryans - Kieran and Eddie - were allegedly kidnapped and drug dealer Kieran Keane shot dead.
However, the murder of Mr Fitzgerald, who was in no way involved in crime, shocked Limerick city, and gardaí are determined to bring to justice all of those involved. Cahill's statements should prove to be invaluable in that regard.