Courts / Dublin / Report

'Associate' arranged to meet Mark 'Guinea Pig' Desmond in park where he was gunned down

Date
2024-02-06

Stage
Sentence

Primary locality
Lucan

County
Dublin

Summary

In a sentence hearing at the Central Criminal Court, 35‑year‑old Charles McClean admitted that he had called his "associate" Mark 'Guinea Pig' Desmond to a drugs meeting in Griffeen Valley Park, Lucan, where Desmond was shot dead. McClean said he later removed Desmond's mobile phone at the request of gangster Wayne Whelan. He had previously pleaded guilty to impeding the apprehension or prosecution of Desmond on 2 December 2016, knowing or believing Desmond to be guilty of an arrestable offence. McClean is already serving a 16.5‑year sentence for facilitating a criminal organisation and for conspiring to murder Whelan. The hearing also noted that McClean had a motor business linked to Whelan and that he had travelled to Northern Ireland and Tenerife shortly after the shooting. The court remanded him in custody until his sentencing.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: 'Associate' arranged to meet Mark 'Guinea Pig' Desmond in park where he was gunned down. Charges or matters: impeding the apprehension or prosecution of another at Griffeen Valley Park, Lucan, Dublin, on December 2 2016, knowing or believing them to be guilty of an arrestable offence, namely the murder of Mr Desmond. Procedural stage: sentence

When:

November 2019 Incident
December 2 2016 Incident
December 2 Hearing Or Sentence
December 2016 Hearing Or Sentence
November 2016 Hearing Or Sentence
December 3 Incident
December 5, 2016 Incident
September 2019 Incident
July 27, 2020 Incident
January 25 Adjournment
September 2021 Incident
September 29 2020 Incident
2024-02-06 Publication

Case subjects

Charles McClean

Convicted Person

Charges: impeding the apprehension or prosecution of another at Griffeen Valley Park, Lucan, Dublin, on December 2 2016, knowing or believing them to be guilty of an arrestable offence, namely the murder of Mr Desmond (Admitted)

Plea: Guilty

Outcome: McClean has already been sentenced to two consecutive sentences totalling 16.5 years imprisonment for facilitating a criminal organisation as well as later conspiring to murder Whelan. Last April at the Central Criminal Court, McClean was jailed for eight-and-a-half years for facilitating a criminal organisation in the unexplained fatal shooting of father-of-five Thomas McCarthy (55), a man who had no links to crime.; Mr Justice Paul McDermott remanded McClean in custody until next Friday, when he will be sentenced.