A “HARD-WORKING and innocent” plumber who was gunned down while at work in a north Dublin house had his arms raised in a defensive posture when murdered, his inquest heard yesterday.
Apprentice plumber Anthony Campbell (20) was an innocent victim caught up in the gun murder of a leading crime boss in 2006.
Mr Campbell was working on radiators at 8 Scribblestown Park, Finglas, when gunmen entered the home of Martin “Marlo” Hyland’s niece on the morning of December 12th, 2006, and shot Mr Campbell and crime boss Hyland, who was in bed upstairs.
Hyland, who had been staying with his niece and her partner for three months, was concerned about threats on his life at the time, was refusing to answer the door to anyone, and had a Samurai sword with him wherever he was in the house, the inquest at Dublin County Coroner’s Court heard.
Det Insp Kieran McEneaney told an inquest into the double murders that Mr Campbell was killed to eliminate any risk of Hyland’s killers being identified.
“Sinister criminal elements of a serious criminal persuasion were involved in the deliberate and violent murder of Martin Hyland and in the ruthless taking of the young life of Anthony Campbell,” he said.
Coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty said Mr Campbell was a “hard-working and innocent young man who was callously and brutally murdered”.
The coroner described Hyland’s killing as “very brutal”. A jury at the inquest returned verdicts of death by unlawful killing.
The plumber’s grief-stricken mother, Christine Campbell, who choked back tears after the hearing, said the family was “absolutely devastated”.
“I can’t even put it into words,” she said outside the court.
The court heard that the double shooting occurred at 9.20am, a short time after Hyland’s niece, Elaine Hyland, had left the house with her two young daughters to drop the elder, aged five, to school, and approximately 15 minutes after Mr Campbell’s boss, David Murphy, left the house to get supplies for another job.
The alarm was raised and emergency services contacted after Ms Hyland returned home with her other daughter, aged two, and found Mr Campbell, from St Michan’s House, Smithfield, lying face-down on the sitting room floor, beside the radiator, his tools beside him.
Simon Jones, Martin Hyland’s driver, who had arrived at the house to give Hyland newspapers, administered CPR to the young plumber before going upstairs where he found Hyland lifeless in bed, a cluster of four bullet holes in the back of his T-shirt.
The front door had most likely been opened to the gunmen by the plumber, the inquest heard.
Mr Campbell died from a single gunshot injury to the head, which would have caused instant collapse and almost immediate death, a postmortem by State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy found.
He was shot at “fairly close range” and a single bullet had passed through his left arm and into his head.
Prof Cassidy’s findings suggested both of Mr Campbell’s arms were raised above his head when he was shot, with his left arm raised to the side of his head.
“This would suggest he adopted a defensive posture,” the State Pathologist said.
Hyland was shot six times and had two gunshot injuries to the head and four to the trunk. He appeared to have been unaware and may have been sleeping, the inquest heard.
A Garda investigation was launched, with 1,000 people interviewed, 580 witness statements recorded and 14 people arrested. The investigation has reached the point where it cannot progress in the absence of further information, Det Insp McEneaney said.
Hyland had been paranoid and had a Samurai sword with him wherever he was in the house, Elaine Hyland told the inquest. She said that, whatever house he was in, he always had a collection of such swords.
His brother, William Hyland, told the hearing that gardaí had told Martin there were threats to his life and that he was “very depressed” for six weeks before he was shot.
He was not eating properly and was drinking nutritional drinks since he received the threats, he said.
“I think he knew it was coming because he said to me to get my act together because he wouldn’t be around forever,” said William Hyland, who told the coroner he had no idea about the source of the threats.
Speaking after the inquest, Det Insp McEneaney said that at an early stage in the investigation it was established that Martin Hyland was the primary target of “gunmen with murderous intent”.
“Anthony Campbell . . . a young man in the early stages of his plumbing apprenticeship . . . was shot dead in cold blood,” said Det Insp McEneaney.
He said it was an “open” investigation.