Shot three times in the head, drug dealer who was prime suspect for attempted murder

Irish Herald

By Cormac Looney and Charlie Mallon

Tuesday March 31 2009

A drug dealer whose body was found on wasteground in north Dublin was the chief suspect for the attempted murder of another man two months ago.

David 'Fred' Lynch (26) is believed to have been the gunman behind an attack on the man at his north Dublin home in January.

The target in that shooting narrowly escaped with his life, after being shot in the neck and chest. Gardai believe Lynch targeted the man as part of a criminal feud.

Rival

Lynch was also suspected of setting up a rival gang member to be attacked in Darndale in the early hours of last Sunday morning. The man, a criminal from Kilbarrick, was shot in the leg after meeting members of another outfit for "peace talks" on wasteground there.

The injured man remains in hospital today. An associate of Lynch's was arrested by gardai close to the scene last Sunday, but later released without charge.

Members of that outfit are now the main suspects for murdering Lynch last Sunday. The dead man had been notified by officers of a plot to target him on the part of the rival criminal gang in recent weeks. He ignored these garda warnings, sources said.

The shootings are the latest in a number of gang attacks associated with the feud. In another recent incident, a gang member was shot at as he left a north Dublin gym.

Lynch's body was discovered yesterday at 4pm on wasteground close to Newtown Court apartments, near the Hilton Hotel, at Belcamp Lane. A passer-by walking his dog found the remains. He had been shot three times in the head.

Gardai are now trying to establish if Lynch was murdered at the scene or if he was shot elsewhere, and his body moved to the wasteground.

From Ferrycarrig in Coolock, the dead man was well known to officers in north Dublin and has a long-time involvement in gun and drug crime, officers said. He survived a previous assassination attempt in October 2006, when he lost his kidney after being shot at The Towers pub in Ballymun.

Underworld

That attack was believed to have been related to a separate underworld feud that Lynch's gang were involved with, with a gang from the north inner city.

The dad had served a number of sentences in recent years, and was recently released from prison in the North, where he had served a sentence for theft. He returned to Dublin late last year and became involved in the ongoing feud between his associates and a rival Coolock-Darndale criminal gang.

hnews@herald.ie