Two brothers fail to convince Supreme Court to hear further appeal against murder convictions

High Court reporters

Two brothers have failed to persuade the Supreme Court to hear further appeals against their convictions for murdering a man by driving over him and striking him with a weapon after he fired shots at their home.

Dean (29) and Jason Bradley (25), of Liscarne Gardens, Dublin 22, were sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2018 after they were found guilty of murdering 36-year-old Neil Reilly at Esker Glebe in Lucan, Dublin, on January 18th, 2017.

The Court of Appeal previously dismissed Dean and Jason Bradley’s appeals, which claimed their murder convictions should be overturned due to alleged errors in the judge’s charge to the jury and because a key prosecution witness, they said, should not have been permitted to give evidence at their trials.

In a recently published determination, a three-judge Supreme Court panel said the circumstances of the murder of Mr Reilly were “horrific”, involving the use of “chopping weapons” and a car as a weapon.

The judges did not agree with the applicants that a further appeal was needed so the court could rule on a form of interviewing technique and to expand the categories of evidence that need a judge’s warning to the jury.

There was “nothing” in the grounds of appeal that would justify a further appeal and the interests of justice are not engaged, said Mr Justice Peter Charleton, Mr Justice Séamus Woulfe and Mr Justice Maurice Collins.

Dean and Jason Bradley were tried along with their father, Paul Bradley, and another brother, Ryan Bradley.

Paul Bradley was acquitted by the jury. Ryan Bradley was acquitted by direction of the trial judge but pleaded guilty to an offence of impeding the murder investigation. He was ultimately given a fully suspended five-year prison sentence.

The jury at the Central Criminal Court trial heard Jason Bradley owed Mr Reilly more than €9,000 for drugs. Mr Reilly fired two shots at their house in the early hours of the morning of January 18th last year.

Eyewitnesses told the jury there was a confrontation between the four members of the Bradley family and the deceased in a housing estate in Lucan, which resulted in Jason Bradley delivering chopping blows to Mr Reilly before Dean Bradley drove a BMW over him.

Two witnesses saw him drive over Mr Reilly twice, while another said she saw the car drive over him, reverse over him and drive over him again.