Four are charged in connection with Peter Butterly murder

Four men appeared before the Special Criminal Court in September 2017 following charges connected to the fatal shooting of Peter Butterly, aged thirty-five, at The Huntsman Inn in Gormanston, County Meath on 6 March 2013. Michael McDermott, a fifty-eight-year-old from Ballinagh, County Cavan, faced a murder charge in addition to allegations of membership of an unlawful organisation and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition. Frank Murphy, aged fifty-eight, and Laurence Murphy, aged sixty, both from Bettystown, County Meath, were charged with membership of an unlawful organisation, with Frank Murphy also facing murder and firearm possession charges. Ray Kennedy, aged thirty-eight, from Dublin, was charged with membership of an unlawful organisation. The proceedings took place at an out-of-term sitting, and all four were remanded in custody. Books of evidence were subsequently served, and a trial date of 2 October 2018 was established at the non-jury court, with the case estimated to require up to ten weeks of hearing time. The trial ultimately proceeded with three of the defendants. Michael McDermott and Frank Murphy pleaded guilty to lesser offences related to the murder; McDermott admitted assisting an unlawful organisation in committing the killing, whilst Murphy pleaded guilty to obstructing the apprehension or prosecution of a person involved in unlawful firearm possession. Both received life sentences. Laurence Murphy and Ray Kennedy proceeded to full trial on charges of membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, with Kennedy additionally charged with perverting the course of justice. Detective evidence indicated the killing was meticulously planned and involved a stolen vehicle recovered at the scene. The prosecution relied substantially on accomplice evidence during proceedings before three judges.