Gerard McKenna jailed for cleaning up murder evidence

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

Gerard McKenna was sentenced at the Central Criminal Court to five years and three months in prison, with the final 15 months suspended. The proceedings were reported on 8 March 2022.

McKenna cleaned and removed bloodstained evidence from a house in Drogheda where 17-year-old Keane Mulready-Woods was murdered. Mr Justice Paul Mc Dermott imposed the sentence.

Forensic testing identified Keane Mulready-Woods’s blood throughout the house, including on the ceiling and walls, a television table, a Sky box and at the fireplace. Bloodstained items, including his ballistic vest and a box of knives, were found at a burn site. A bloodstained axe and a bone fragment were found in a nearby car whose keys were in McKenna’s home.

McKenna claimed he carried out his instructions under duress. He said he was told to clean the house even though it had already been cleaned, and that he did not know what was in bags he was told to burn or that the teenager had a vest.

Detective Sergeant Peter Cooney agreed that McKenna was not part of the organised crime group that lured Keane Mulready-Woods to his house. He agreed that McKenna knew something bad was going to happen but did not know what, and was not in the house at the time. The detective also agreed that the person who gave McKenna orders had a number of murders attributed to him. Defence counsel Michael O’Higgins said the man was not easy to refuse.

Mr Justice Mc Dermott said McKenna became aware of the murder when he walked into the house and was instructed to clean it, and knew what he was doing was terrible and wrong.