Killers may have been contracted by criminal

THE Limerick man shot dead yesterday may have been killed because his personal affairs had become entangled with those of a local…

THE Limerick man shot dead yesterday may have been killed because his personal affairs had become entangled with those of a local criminal.

Mr Sean Colbert (53), killed by a shotgun blast at his home in the city early yesterday, appears to have been the victim of a contract killing.

Gardai are examining the theory that the criminal hired the killers because Mr Colbert ignored previous warnings about his personal arrangements.

Mr Colbert had already been shot once, and had also claimed an attempt was made to run him down with a car.

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He believed he knew those who were trying to intimidate him, and kept a written record of their names. Mr Colbert, who was married with eight children, was a drummer with a local group.

At about 1.40 a.m. yesterday, as he arrived at his home at Lenihan Avenue, Prospect, he was hit by a single shot to the chest, fired at close range. He collapsed on to the doorstep holding his chest.

He was tended to by his 14 year old son while other family members called an ambulance but Mr Colbert was dead on admission to the Regional Hospital.

Two men dressed in tracksuits and wearing caps with long peaks hiding their faces are believed to have carried out the shooting.

Garda Supt Pat O'Boyle, who with Det Insp John Kerins is leading the murder hunt, said the incident would not appear to have any connection with recent shootings in Limerick nor, to the Garda's knowledge, was it connected with drugs or moneylending.

Mr Colbert had no criminal background.

On St Stephen's night last he was shot in the thigh while unloading musical instruments outside Pike Rovers football pavilion. A man wearing a balaclava fired once from a shotgun and disappeared across fields. The St Stephen's night function was cancelled.

That shooting was believed to have been a warning rather than an attempted assassination.

Dr John Harbison, the State Pathologist, conducted a post mortem on Mr Colbert's body yesterday evening while a team from the Garda Technical Bureau in Dublin joined 30 local gardai who are investigating the murder.

The house and the immediate area have been cordoned off.

Mr Willie O'Dea, Fianna Fail's spokesman on law reform, appealed for no retaliation.

He described the murder as "particularly brutal" and called on gardai to use all their new powers in the course of the investigation.

He said Mr Colbert had approached him following a previous incident, when he reported that a car had tried to run him down while he was recovering from an earlier gun attack.

"It is frightening to realise that a well liked man can be killed in such a deliberate and ruthless way by a hired killer," he said.

"We cannot allow this type of gun law to become the norm."