Getaway driver set himself alight while trying to burn out car used in murder

A Dublin man has pleaded guilty to facilitating the murder of David Douglas, a 55-year-old shot six times at his shop in Dublin's Liberties on 1 July 2016. Gareth Brophy, aged 25 and from Reuben Walk in Dublin 8, admitted his role in the meticulously planned killing at the Special Criminal Court. Evidence presented to the court established that Brophy operated the getaway vehicle, a Mercedes, immediately following the shooting on Bridgefoot Street. In an attempt to destroy evidence, he subsequently drove the car near Tandy Court Apartments where he sought to set it alight. During this process, his own trousers caught fire. After extinguishing the flames, Brophy abandoned the burning vehicle and made his escape in a waiting Suzuki Swift. Forensic investigation and CCTV analysis proved instrumental in securing the guilty plea. Investigators examined over 1,500 hours of surveillance footage, which corroborated Brophy's movements throughout the day. DNA evidence recovered from the passenger area of the Suzuki Swift and a palm print identified on the vehicle door provided further corroboration of his involvement. The court heard that Brophy's culpability was assessed as substantially more serious than that of Nathan Foley, who was previously convicted for his peripheral role in the killing as a driver of one of four vehicles deployed that day. Foley received a six-year sentence following his guilty plea to facilitating the murder. Brophy was arrested in November 2018, approximately two and a half years after the offence. The court scheduled sentencing for 17 February 2020. The killing formed part of a broader criminal enterprise prosecuted at the Special Criminal Court. Lee Canavan was subsequently convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment following trial, whilst other participants have also received custodial sentences in connection with the incident.