Gardai see conviction of Delaney as major victory

Gardai were celebrating a major victory against organised crime yesterday with the conviction of self-confessed drugs dealer Joseph Delaney for murder.

The case was the first successful gangland murder trial. It was also regarded by gardai as unique in the level of co-operation received from criminal gang members, some of whom agreed to testify against Delaney.

At the Central Criminal Court in Dublin, Delaney (54), formerly of La Rochelle, Naas, Co Kildare, was found guilty of the murder of Mark Dwyer (23) on or about December 14th, 1996. Handing down a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment, the judge said it was an "evil and foul" murder of "unspeakable savagery".

Delaney was also convicted of falsely imprisoning Mr Dwyer and detaining him against his will, for which he received 15 years' imprisonment.

Yesterday's verdict came exactly a year after the case first opened. However, the initial jury, amid allegations of intimidation and after almost two days of deliberations, failed to reach a verdict. Last month, a second jury was discharged after it was found one of its members knew a key witness in the case.

Security measures had been increased at the court in the past weeks after the foreman of the jury said there was "unease" and "apprehension" about the presence of certain persons in the courtroom. The jury took just half an hour to convict Delaney. Mr Dwyer's mother was in court to welcome the verdict.

A separated man with three children, "Cotton Eye" Joe Delaney controlled a Dublin drug gang which had been associated with a number of violent crimes.

He worked for 23 years as a chocolate factory production manager before getting involved in the taxi business and brothels. His previous convictions included running a brothel, common assault and dangerous and drunken driving.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice John Quirke told Delaney he was guilty of a "particularly foul and evil crime" because he recruited others, including his son, to abduct his victim before subjecting him to unspeakable savagery and paying others to kill him.

During the 23-day trial, the jury heard that Mr Dwyer was shot dead after being tortured for a number of hours in what prosecution alleged was a revenge killing, after 40,000 ecstasy tablets went missing. They were believed to have been part of a drugs haul organised by the accused.

The convicted man's son, Scott Delaney, testified against his father, saying that he had witnessed him agree a fee with a gunman to have Mr Dwyer shot and, when he protested, his father punched him in the face.