Martin Aylmer sentenced over activity facilitating criminal organisation

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

Martin Aylmer was sentenced by the Special Criminal Court to three years and nine months in prison, with one year suspended. Justice Tony Hunt presided with Judge Sinead Ní Chulachain and Judge Cormac Dunne. The proceedings were reported on 15 October 2018.

Aylmer pleaded guilty in July to participating in or contributing to activity intended to facilitate a serious offence by a criminal organisation or one of its members: the murder of Dublin bar manager Michael Barr. The offence occurred between 23 and 25 April 2016.

Barr was shot seven times at the Sunset House pub on 25 April 2016. The court heard that gardaí recovered one mobile phone beside the partially burned-out getaway car and that CCTV showed Aylmer buying it two days before the shooting. He also bought two other phones at the same time.

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

Hunt said Aylmer’s assistance was not at the higher end of the scale. He identified a five-year headline sentence and applied a 25% reduction for the early guilty plea. The judge also considered Aylmer’s relative youth, lack of a serious criminal record and prospects of rehabilitation.