Kinahan crime boss orchestrated gun cash plot from jail, court told

By Emily Pennink, PA Old Bailey Correspondent

A UK boss of the Kinahan organised crime group orchestrated a plot to amass a stash of guns and use it to leverage a lighter jail sentence, a court has heard.

Thomas Kavanagh (57) had hoped that by leading the UK's National Crime Agency to a buried cache of 11 weapons, he could influence sentencing in a multi-million pound drug smuggling case.

He enlisted the help of his brother-in-law, Liam Byrne, and associate Shaun Kent in the plan to dupe the NCA.

In May 2021, Kavanagh provided information to the NCA which led them to a field in Newry, where two hold-alls were unearthed.

They contained seven machine guns, three automatic hand guns, an assault rifle and ammunition.

The plot was foiled after the NCA uncovered incriminating messages on encrypted EncroChat which had been cracked by French counterparts.

Ahead of their UK trial, Kavanagh, Byrne and Kent admitted the conspiracy last month.

On Monday, they returned to court for the start of a two-day sentencing amid heightened security.

Prosecutor Tom Forster KC said the case involved “organised crime at a high level”.

He told the court: “But for the NCA’s possession of the EncroChat evidence there is every likelihood the plot would have been successful.”

Between January 2020 and June 2021, the defendants agreed to “acquire as many arms as possible” from the UK, Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Kavanagh had run the conspiracy from HMP Dovegate where he was serving a three-year sentence for possession of a stun gun and had been remanded on serious drug charges since March 2020.

Those charges related to smuggling “multiple kilos” of cocaine and cannabis into the UK, which he was sentenced in March 2022 to 21 years’ prison.

Mr Forster said: “Put shortly, Thomas Kavanagh’s plan, with which the other defendants agreed and put into practice, was to assemble as many weapons and ammunition as possible, acquiring the arms from various criminals, then conceal them and finally reveal their whereabouts to the NCA.

“In this way, the conspirators intended to fool the authorities into concluding the assistance was genuine, when it was not, so that Thomas Kavanagh would be rewarded for helping the authorities to recover dangerous weapons by way of a considerable discount from his sentence.

“However, the true position was that he and his co-conspirators did not intend to provide any real assistance because they had orchestrated the acquisition of weapons and ammunition through their own serious criminality. It was a ‘put up job’.”

Mr Forster said the plot was laid bare over encrypted messages on EncroChat, described as “WhatsApp for criminals”.

Although Kavanagh did not use EncroChat himself, other conspirators referred to him by the nicknames “Pops”, “Mick”, “Big Head” and “Malla” or simply “our mate”, the court heard.

The defendants’ confidence in their security was misplaced when, in 2020, French authorities cracked the system, harvested data and shared it with British law enforcement.

The NCA’s “painstaking” investigation revealed the handles of conspirators from three months’ worth of messages.

Kent was said to have performed several roles, including “messenger boy”, by receiving instructions from Kavanagh via a middleman in prison.

He then used his EncroChat device to relay instructions to others tasked with him to obtain the guns and ammunition, the court was told.

Byrne was a close criminal associate of Kavanagh as well as his brother-in-law, and they lived near to each other in Tamworth, Staffordshire.

He acted on Kavanagh’s direction to acquire firearms and ammunition and added “much needed impetus” to progressing the plot.

Kavanagh, Byrne, 44, from Dublin, and Kent, 38, from Liverpool, have admitted two charges of conspiring to possess a prohibited weapon, and two charges of conspiring to possess prohibited ammunition, between January 9th 2020 and June 3rd 2021.

Kavanagh and Kent also admitted conspiring with others to pervert the course of justice.

Judge Philip Katz KC is expected to hand down sentences on Tuesday.