💾 Archived View for gem.amigausers.ie › news_ie › rtedub1639597860.gmi captured on 2021-12-17 at 13:26:06. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Gang member jailed for 10 years for part in gun attack
Wednesday, 15 Dec 2021 19:51
A member of the Kinahan organised crime group currently serving a sentence for a feud-related attack on a rival Hutch gang member has been jailed today for another ten years.
Alan Wilson, from New Street Gardens in Dublin, admitted his part in a gun attack on a Dublin pub 11 years ago during which three people were shot and seriously injured.
The 42-year-old father-of-five claimed he was taking orders from dissident republicans when he provided the guns and getaway cars for the shooting in July 2010.
He also claimed he is not and never was a member of Kinahan gang or any gang.
His defence counsel told the Special Criminal Court today that Wilson is now a different person at a different stage of his life and that he is currently writing poetry and a book.
Wilson, whom the court heard today is taking medication for his nerves and seizures, has been diagnosed with Multiple sclerosis.
Ms Justice Tara Burns said there was no medical evidence put before the court to confirm this diagnosis.
She also said the court did not accept that Wilson's expression of remorse was genuine but was an expression of regret that he involved himself with dissidents.
The presiding judge, along with Judges James Faughnan and Sinéad Nà Chúlacháin, found the crime to be "a highly sophisticated and meticulously planned assassination attempt of the utmost gravity".
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Eleven years ago a doorman at the Players Lounge, Wayne Barrett, was outside talking to two customers Brian Masterson and Austin Purcell when a masked gunman got out of a car with a revolver in each hand, ran towards the pub and started shooting.
All three men - who were innocent victims with no involvement in organised crime - were shot and seriously injured.
The judge described their victim impact statements as powerful, detailing life changing injuries and trauma and fear which have remained. None of the three men were the gunman's target that night.
Alan Wilson admitted supplying the guns and getaway cars that night but claimed he did so under orders from dissident republicans.
Wilson is already in jail serving a sentence for his role in the attempted feud related murder four years ago of Gary Hanley, a rival Hutch gang member, carried out by the Kinahan organised crime group.
Wilson was caught because during that attempted murder he told his co-conspirators that he had been involved in the Players Lounge shooting. The gardaà had the gang under surveillance and bugged their conversations.
Wilson later told them he was trying to impress the others: "I may have said it but I didn't do it," he said.
He said he was contacted by a faction involved in a republican feud and agreed to become involved.
The former head of the Garda National Surveillance Unit testified that Wilson was a member of the Kinahan organised crime group and while Wilson accepts there are suspicions, his defence counsel Padraig Dwyer told the court today that Wilson says "he is not and never was a member of any gang".
Alan Wilson first came to public attention after he was tried and found not guilty in July 2014 of the murder of Marioara Rostas. The teenager was shot four times in the head and body in 2008. Her body lay undiscovered for four years in a shallow grave in the Dublin mountains.
He was in jail during the trial serving a sentence for burglary and assault causing harm. However, he appealed that conviction to the Supreme Court and won because the court found he had been charged with a different offence from the one for which he had been cautioned and questioned.
The court heard today that these cases "caused him a lot of suffering in his life" as well as a lot of time in custody on remand. "His portrayal in the media" the court heard "caused severe hardship in his life".
Ms Justice Tara Burns refused to backdate the sentences and ruled that the ten-year jail sentence begins today.