Gareth Mulley given 10 years for Kilcurry explosives offence

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

Gareth Mulley, 45, received a 10-year prison sentence with no suspended portion at the Special Criminal Court for possessing explosives. The non-jury court convicted him on 31 July 2015. The proceedings were reported on 31 July 2015.

He had pleaded not guilty. The offence concerned explosives at Kilcurry Church in Co Louth on 25 May 2014. The charge listed a 50-litre adapted beer keg and 50 kg of homemade ammonium nitrate explosives. Other items specified were PETN, RDX, a steel booster tube and a time and power unit, with both the tube and unit described as improvised.

Mr Justice Paul Butler, the presiding judge, backdated the prison term to 1 June 2014.

The judge took account of Mulley’s previously clear record, his commitment to family life and his extensive involvement in Dundalk soccer. Against those mitigating factors, he weighed the gravity of the offence and the absence of information about Mulley’s future intentions. He concluded that the seriousness of the case ruled out suspending any of the sentence.

Mulley faced a further charge alleging that, on 25 May 2014, he belonged to the unlawful organisation Oglaigh na hEireann, also called the Irish Republican Army or IRA. Prosecution counsel Paul Greene SC requested a nolle prosequi on that count, asking that the membership charge not proceed.