Cailean Crawford jailed for life for Thomas McCarthy’s murder

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Cailean Crawford was jailed for life for murdering Thomas McCarthy at the Central Criminal Court on 20 December 2024. McCarthy was shot at his mother’s home in Ballyfermot in July 2020.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt imposed the mandatory life sentence, backdated to 1 June 2024, when Crawford’s previous sentence ended. The judge said the jury had reached “the only sane conclusion anyone could come to” after its analysis of the evidence.

The jury had unanimously convicted Crawford earlier in December after he pleaded not guilty. He had been remanded in custody pending sentencing.