Imre Arakas admits conspiracy to murder James Gately

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

Imre Arakas pleaded guilty to conspiring with others not before the court to murder James Gately in Northern Ireland between 3 and 4 April 2017. The proceedings at the non-jury Special Criminal Court were reported on 30 November 2018.

At the sentencing hearing, prosecuting counsel Paul Greene SC said the maximum sentence for the offence was 10 years in prison. Mr Justice Tony Hunt, sitting with Judge Sinéad Ní Chúlacháin and Judge Cormac Dunne, remanded Arakas in custody until 12 December 2018 for sentencing.

Arakas was placed under surveillance when he landed in Dublin on 3 April 2017. He bought a wig and a mirror and was later brought to an address in west Dublin. Gardaí arrested him there the next day and found an encrypted phone and a handwritten note referring to Gately in Newry.

The court heard that messages on the phone included information about Gately’s movements and a plan to shoot him. Detective Inspector David Gallagher agreed with defence counsel Michael Bowman SC that arrangements had been made before Arakas arrived and that Arakas had not deleted the message thread. The detective also agreed that Arakas was outside the chain of command, while saying he had an essential role.

Bowman cited Arakas’s guilty plea, his admissions in garda interviews and his failing health in mitigation. He said Arakas was not at the apex of the organisation. The report also said the High Court had endorsed a European Arrest Warrant from Lithuania in February 2018 concerning serious charges there after Arakas’s Irish jail term.