Gardaí policing a volatile criminal feud in Dublin's north inner city have drawn up a list of over 30 men they believe are at risk of being shot dead in the near future.
The list has been drawn up as the Sheriff Street area is being policed at saturation level by armed officers from across the city on a 24-hour basis.
Two men were shot dead at the end of last year as part of the feud. It was sparked when a young woman from the area went to gardaí and complained she had been sexually abused and raped by a well-known criminal, Christopher Griffin.
Griffin (37), Ridgewood Green, Swords, and formerly of Canon Lillis Avenue, in the north inner city, was found guilty by a jury on January 18th on 11 counts of rape and sexual assault. He was jailed for life 10 days ago at the Central Criminal Court.
The Garda list is made up of persons of interest from both sides of the feud, all of whom are regarded as potential murder victims. Griffin's victim was abused by him for eight years from the time she was aged eight. She is Griffin's partner's daughter.
This woman rejected her daughter after she made her statement to gardaí, opting instead to stand by Griffin, who is also a major drug dealer, armed robber and gang leader. A bitter feud has ensued which, apart from the two murders in December, led to a series of shootings, assaults and grenade attacks as Griffin's faction engaged in tit-for-tat warfare with those associated with the victim's family. Among the incidents were:
* On December 27th last Stephen Ledden (28), was shot in the head at Oriel Street, Dublin. He was shot by mistake by killers targeting another man thought to be behind a feud-related murder two weeks earlier.
* Criminal Gerard Batt Byrne (25) of Ferryman's Crossing, Dublin, was shot dead in the IFSC on December 13th. He was believed to be behind a number of feud-related property attacks.
* In November 2006 a hand grenade was thrown into Griffin's home in Swords and exploded. In the same month another grenade was thrown into a relative's house but failed to detonate.
* In an attack last year a house linked to Griffin's rape victim was shot at. Just minutes later a second home was shot at, also in the north inner city.
*In October 2005 a number of shots were fired into Griffin's home in Swords, wounding him in the arm.
Griffin has been a target for years of the Garda's Dublin North Central Drugs Unit. The Criminal Assets Bureau also confiscated two of his houses. He was first put on trial 12 months ago but the jury failed to agree a verdict. The jury requested armed Garda protection. Armed gardaí also policed the most recent trial.