John Costello pleads guilty to impeding prosecution

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

John Costello pleaded guilty at the Special Criminal Court on 8 March 2023 to providing transport to people allegedly involved in an assault causing serious harm to Christy Keane, intending to impede their apprehension or prosecution. The charge concerned an alleged offence on 29 June 2015.

The prosecution withdrew an original charge under Section 72 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006, alleging transport intended to facilitate Christy Keane’s attempted murder, and replaced it with the Section 7(2) charge under the Criminal Law Act 1997. Mr Justice Tony Hunt, sitting with Judge Sarah Berkeley and Judge Alan Mitchell, adjourned the matter to 30 March for sentence.