A VIOLENT argument with a woman may have precipitated the murder of the drug dealer Peter Judge in Dublin on Sunday.
Gardai have discovered that Judge may have beaten the woman within the last two weeks. Her relatives, members of a major criminal family in the Finglas area of Dublin, are among the suspects who will be the focus of the murder investigation.
They are also believed to have been involved in the murder of Michael Brady on the Dublin Quays in September.
Judge, known as "Psycho" for his violent tendencies, was shot dead early on Sunday morning outside a pub in Finglas. He had made many enemies during his criminal career and there was no shortage of lesser figures in the underworld keen to take his place as the major heroin and cannabis supplier in the Finglas, Ballymun and Cabra areas of the city.
However, Judge had managed to frighten off most of his rivals - he is believed to have killed two former associates after disputes over the proceeds of drug trafficking. Given that Judge had survived several long running feuds with criminal gangs in the city, gardai have been trying to determine why someone or some group should finally decide to murder him. The suggestion that it was a reprisal for the recent beating of the woman is one of the more "viable theories" to be explored. Gardai are also focusing on the links to the Brady murder. Brady and Judge were killed in the same manner - shot in the head while sitting in their cars - and there is a possibility that the murders were organised or carried out by the same people.
The suggestion that the murder of Judge was part of a struggle for control of part of Dublin's illicit drugs trade is not being discounted, and the confrontation with the woman may have merely provided his killers with an excuse.
Gardai are searching for a motorcycle used by the gunman to escape from outside the Royal Oak pub in Finglas. Judge's body is to be removed to St Canice's Church in Finglas this evening. His funeral is tomorrow.