New IRA leader jailed for life

Kevin Braney, a 44-year-old man from Charlestown in County Mayo, has been sentenced to life imprisonment following his conviction for the murder of Peter Butterly in 2013. The Special Criminal Court found Braney guilty of the premeditated killing of Butterly, aged 35, who was shot dead outside The Huntsman Inn near Gormanston, County Meath on 6 March that year. The three-judge panel determined beyond reasonable doubt that Braney had organised and planned the murder. During an eleven-week trial, evidence established that Braney attended a meeting at a flat in Balbriggan on the night before the shooting, where details of the killing were discussed. The court also considered significant his attendance at a subsequent gathering at a restaurant in Charlestown Shopping Centre on 7 March, the day after Butterly's death. Surveillance records indicated that multiple individuals met at that location, with prosecutors suggesting the meeting served as a debrief regarding the previous day's events. Butterly's widow provided an impact statement to the court, describing the profound consequences the killing had inflicted upon her family. The sentence was backdated to September 2017, reflecting time already spent in custody. Three other men have previously received life sentences for their involvement in Butterly's murder. Additionally, two further men pleaded guilty to related offences: Michael McDermott received four years imprisonment with six months suspended for assisting an unlawful organisation in the killing, while Frank Murphy was sentenced to three years with the final year suspended for impeding the apprehension of a prosecution witness. Ray Kennedy was separately convicted of perverting the course of justice after destroying a mobile telephone SIM card on the day of the shooting and subsequently appealed his conviction at the Court of Appeal.