James 'Mago' Gately's repaired home ready to be sold next month, court hears

High Court Reporter

Hutch gang member James 'Mago' Gately will have his house - on which he has spent €440,000 in refurbishments despite not working since 2015 - sold at auction next month on foot of an action taken by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB).

At the High Court on Wednesday, David Dodd BL for the CAB, told Mr Justice Liam Kennedy that there had been an agreement in the case that Gately's former home, at Glin Drive, Coolock, Dublin, is to be auctioned next month and that the case should return to court after the sale.

Gately's former partner, Charlene Lam, is also a respondent in the CAB case, and both denied wrongdoing.

The property is listed with Wilsons Auctions and carries a guide price of €295,000 for a public auction due to commence on November 12th, a week ahead of his High Court return on November 19th.

At the court on Wednesday, Mr Dodd said the property had been "very badly damaged" when it was seized by CAB officers in April, but has since been repaired following an order by Mr Justice Alex Owens.

Last November, the High Court gave Gately and Ms Lam, a self-employed beautician, four months to vacate the home, which the High Court found to be “overwhelmingly” derived from the proceeds of crime.

The CAB has alleged Gately has been linked to armed robberies, gangland murders and drug dealing, but he has never been convicted of any serious offences.

In June 2024, Mr Justice Owens found, on the balance of probabilities, that Gately and Ms Lam’s “exotic” lifestyles were subsidised with crime proceeds, while the “overwhelming” proportion of their equity in their home at Glin Drive also came from such funds.

The couple denied the allegations and argued their assets were acquired with legitimate funds.

In his affidavit, Gately said his relationship to Ms Lam had come to an end and that he was living alone at the house when he removed the staircase, kitchen, doors and other fittings in February of this year.

Mr Justice Owens said he accepted Ms Lam had left the property prior to the damage and that she should receive €11,000 from its sale.

The court has heard that Gately purchased the house in 2013 for €125,000 and spent €440,000 on refurbishments.

The court has also previously heard that Gately has not worked since 2015 due to a threat on his life that related to the Kinahan-Hutch feud.

In his June ruling, Mr Justice Owens said the couple were “virtually never in the State” but rather spent their time in airport terminals and on cruises of the South Seas and the Caribbean.

The judge said he believed all of this was funded with proceeds of crime, as was a Volkswagen Golf and a Rolex watch.

In an affidavit previously opened in the High Court, a CAB officer alleged Gately to be "a leading and prominent member of the Hutch Organised Crime Gang" involved in the importation of controlled drugs.

Gately has survived two attempts on his life, including one attempted hit in which he was shot five times as he sat in his car at a petrol station in May 2017.