Second man admits facilitating Keane Mulready-Woods murder

A 49-year-old Dublin man has pleaded guilty at the Special Criminal Court to facilitating the murder of Keane Mulready-Woods, the 17-year-old killed in Drogheda in January 2020. Gerard Cruise, with an address at Lower Sherrard Street in Dublin 1, entered his plea on January 13th, 2023, admitting to participating in activities with intent to facilitate the serious offence while having knowledge of a criminal organisation's existence. The charge proceeded under Section 72 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006. The teenager was last seen alive in Drogheda on January 12th, 2020. His remains were subsequently discovered across multiple locations in Dublin and Louth during the months following his disappearance, with portions recovered as far as Rathmullan Park. Cruise's guilty plea represents the second such admission in the case. Paul Crosby, a 27-year-old resident of Rathmullan Park in Drogheda, had entered an identical plea the previous month after originally being scheduled to stand trial on a murder charge. The two men were arraigned on the facilitation count rather than the more serious murder allegation. Mr Justice Tony Hunt remanded Cruise in custody pending sentencing, which was scheduled for January 23rd, 2023, alongside Crosby's sentencing hearing. The case has resulted in multiple convictions and guilty pleas from individuals involved in different aspects of the offence, including those charged with removing evidence and disposing of remains. The involvement of the Special Criminal Court, a three-judge non-jury tribunal, indicates the organised crime dimension authorities identified in the investigation.