Courts / Kildare / Report

Man who beat 'Bomber' Keane to death seeks to overturn conviction

Date
2021-04-16

Stage
Appeal

Primary locality
Athy

County
Kildare

Summary

Seamus Morgan, aged 53, seeks to overturn his 2016 murder conviction for killing Laurence 'Bomber' Keane, a 56‑year‑old former bomb‑maker. Morgan was jailed for life after a jury found him guilty of murdering Keane in a dark laneway near Greenhills, Athy, on 18 July 2013. He had previously served eight years for the manslaughter of 29‑year‑old James Hand in 2002. In the Court of Appeal hearing, Morgan's lawyer argued that the trial judge erred by allowing the prosecution to introduce evidence of Morgan's earlier manslaughter conviction and by failing to properly warn the jury about the reliability of witness identification. The appeal judges reserved judgment. The case remains at the appeal stage, with no outcome yet announced. Seamus Morgan pleaded not guilty and was acquitted.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Man who beat 'Bomber' Keane to death seeks to overturn conviction. Charges or matters: murder but was convicted by a jury at the Central Criminal Court in 2016 and was sentenced to life imprisonment; the murder of Mr Hand, of Mountjoy Square, Dublin 7, on or between August 22 and September 5, 2002, at The Meeting Point pub on Dorset Street Upper; having 980lb of an explosive mixture and devices, with the intent to endanger life or enable another to do so, at Dun Laoghaire port on April 2 of the same year. Procedural stage: appeal. Findings: Acquitted

When:

August 1998 Incident
July 18, 2013 Hearing Or Sentence
July 2005 Other
August 22 Other
September 5, 2002 Other
April 2 Hearing Or Sentence
July 19 2013 Hearing Or Sentence
2021-04-16 Publication

Why: When he was finally brought to the video-link booth in the prison, his lawyer Sean Gillane SC told the three-judge court that his conviction should be overturned because of three alleged errors by the trial judge. CNI source report

Case subjects

Seamus Morgan

Convicted Person

Charges: murder but was convicted by a jury at the Central Criminal Court in 2016 and was sentenced to life imprisonment; the murder of Mr Hand, of Mountjoy Square, Dublin 7, on or between August 22 and September 5, 2002, at The Meeting Point pub on Dorset Street Upper; having 980lb of an explosive mixture and devices, with the intent to endanger life or enable another to do so, at Dun Laoghaire port on April 2 of the same year (Alleged Or Contested)

Plea: Not guilty

Finding: Acquitted

Outcome: Acquitted; Seamus Morgan (53) was jailed for life in 2016 for murdering Keane, a 56-year-old who himself had served a prison term for possession of a bomb that was twice the size of the one used to kill 31 people, including unborn twins, in Omagh in August 1998. Morgan was sentenced to eight years in July 2005 after a jury found him not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of 29-year-old James Hand, who was stabbed to death outside a Dublin pub.