A man has been found guilty at the Central Criminal Court of the murder of a mourner at a Co Sligo funeral.
Martin McDonagh (30) was jailed for life for the murder of Patrick 'Deuce' Ward in 1999. He was acquitted of two counts of attempted murder.
McDonagh (29), of Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, England, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Patrick "Deuce" Ward (38), of Moss Side, Manchester. He also denied the attempted murder of Mr Patrick "Jaws" Ward snr and Mr "Jaws Paddy" Ward jnr, at the funeral in Carrownanty, Ballymote, Co Sligo, on May 10th 1999.
The jury heard that Martin McDonagh shot himself in the groin area during an attack in which several shots were fired outside the graveyard.
The dead man was shot with a weapon other than the one McDonagh was seen dumping in a ditch, a ballistics expert told the trial.
McDonagh admitted holding one of the pistols used in the incident, but he denied deliberately shooting. He told gardaí the gun was passed to him in the middle of the incident and it went off twice accidentally, the second time injuring him in the upper leg.
But the jury accepted the prosecution case that he was equally guilty of the murder because he was part of a "joint enterprise" or "common design" with other men to shoot members of the Ward family.
The 10-day trial heard that the gun attack, which one witness described as an ambush, was part of an ongoing feud between members of the Mountbellew Ward and Bumbee McDonagh families.
The court heard that the two families were attending the funeral of Patrick "Skillet" Ward. A van carrying the family of Patrick "Deuce" Ward was stoned when it arrived at the graveyard. Then the crowd "opened up" and six men appeared, at least five of them holding guns, the court heard.