Gardaí identify four suspects in deliberate hit-and-run

Gardaí have identified four suspects in the murder of Stephen Lynch, who died last week after being deliberately run over by a car.

The 32-year-old from Tallaght, Dublin, was beaten with a hammer in an altercation and then run over.

Gardaí are working on the theory that the four men at the scene when Mr Lynch was fatally attacked are from Crumlin.

The men are understood to be involved in a drug related dispute centred on an unpaid debt.

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They believed Mr Lynch, a father of three, was involved in an attack on one of their number about three weeks ago and targeted him because of this.

The men became involved in what was first a verbal altercation with Mr Lynch, who was not involved in criminality, in Tallaght last Thursday week.

The attack escalated when the victim was attacked with a hammer and run over on the Brookview estate in the west Dublin suburb.

Local people rushed to his aid, first trying to get him from under the vehicle which was left in the road, and also trying to resuscitate him.

Earlier this week two men presented themselves to gardaí in Tallaght. They are believed to be two of the four men at the scene of the murder.

However, they gave statements to the Garda in which they protested their innocence. Gardaí believe one of the four played the lead role in the events and caused the death of Mr Lynch.

That suspect lives in the Crumlin area, where gardaí have carried out a number of searches as part of the murder inquiry.

He remains unaccounted for and there are fears he may have fled the Republic.

Mr Lynch’s funeral took place Friday, some eight days after he lost his life.