Martin Aylmer jailed for facilitating bar manager's murder

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

Martin Aylmer was sentenced at the Special Criminal Court on 15 October 2018 to three years and nine months in prison, with one year suspended, for facilitating a criminal organisation in the murder of Dublin bar manager Michael Barr. Barr was shot seven times at the Sunset House pub on Summerhill Parade, Dublin, on 25 April 2016.

Aylmer pleaded guilty in July 2018 to participating in or contributing to activity intending to facilitate the murder by a criminal organisation or any of its members.

The court heard that gardaí recovered a mobile phone beside the getaway car and CCTV footage showed Aylmer buying it two days before the shooting. Detective Garda David Chapman said Aylmer had bought two other phones at the same time.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt said it could not be established that Aylmer knew he was contributing to murder and there was no evidence that he had moved firearms. The judge said it must have been apparent to him that he was assisting serious criminal activity. He also said there was no evidence that Aylmer knew the murder was going to be committed.

The judge said Aylmer's early guilty plea attracted a 25 per cent discount from a five-year headline sentence. He said it was appropriate for Aylmer to serve the final portion of his sentence in the community.