Revealed: Deceased Kinahan mobster Liam Roe's moaning letter to us and failed Press Ombudsman complaint
EXCLUSIVE: Roe's bizarre hand-written letter to this paper can now be revealed, as well as details of how he moaned to the Press Ombudsman about our coverage, and lost
Kinahan cartel mobster Liam Roe once moaned to the Irish Mirror in a bizarre letter that he was just trying to “live a normal life”.
Infamous, perma-tanned criminal Roe, 44, died in hospital after a short illness last week. Now the Irish Mirror can reveal for the first time how the cartel crony issued us with a hand-written letter, giving out about our coverage of him - and claiming he was living a crime-free life.
He also issued a complaint to the Press Ombudsman about our coverage - which ultimately rejected his claims and sided with us. In 2021, this paper published an article with pictures of Roe attending a “gender reveal” party - while his close cartel pals had either recently been locked up, or gone on the run. We can now reveal how Roe sent us this letter, in which he complained about the article and claimed he was not a criminal.
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“The article written about me, Liam Roe, is completely pointless and unnecessary,” the mobster claimed, going on to say that the details of our article were “complete hearsay”. Roe also moaned that the Irish Mirror had gotten his age wrong “along with many other issues,” and claimed our article, which factually named him as a mobster and pal of Daniel Kinahan, “personally affected me and cost me many job opportunities”.
“I have no criminal convictions and find it hard to see what’s to be gained from articles like this, only to block me from living a normal life - which I’ve always done,” he claimed. “My family and those close to me know that this is completely untrue but nevertheless it is costing me to earn a living under Principle 1 of the Code (Truth and Accuracy) and under Principle 5 (Privacy).”
Roe followed up his complaint by reporting us to the Press Ombudsman, claiming we had breached those principles. However, after a strong response from this paper’s Editor Neil Leslie, the Press Ombudsman ruled in favour of our article, stating that it was in the public interest.
Mr Leslie told the Press Ombudsman that beyond Roe’s bizarre complaint about his age, his letter identified no specific inaccuracy. He also argued that our use of words like “crook, gangster, henchman and mobster” were justifiable in that Roe had been the subject of well-publicised extensive Garda investigations over the years. He told the Press Ombudsman that publicly-available court records show that Roe had been summoned before the courts on dozens of occasions, including for the criminal offence of breaching public order.
Mr Leslie also pointed out that Roe was also a named defendant in a successful Criminal Assets Bureau application to the High Court in 2018 to seize around €1.4 million worth of assets found to be purchased with the proceeds of crime from 11 members of what was described in court as “The Byrne Organised Crime Group” [BOCG]. He also pointed out that the High Court heard and accepted evidence that the same BOCG of which he is described as a “senior member”, is heavily involved in drug trafficking and violent crime, with connections to international criminals in the UK, Spain and Netherlands and a feud in Ireland in which 18 people have been murdered.
In her judgement delivered on July 31, 2018, in the case of the CAB versus 11 respondents including Mr Roe, the Hon. Ms Justice Carmel Stewart ruled in favour of the CAB application, and noted: "The Byrne Organised Crime Group (BOCG)… is involved in, inter alia, the importation and distribution of controlled drugs and firearms within this jurisdiction. The second, third and seventh respondents are all senior members of the BOCG (Roe was the second).
“The BOCG is part of a wider international KOCG [Kinahan Organised Crime Group], which is involved in, inter alia, the importation and distribution of controlled drugs and firearms into this jurisdiction, the UK and mainland Europe. It has associations that facilitate international criminal activity in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and South America... The KOCG is currently involved in a feud with the Hutch OCG (HOCG), which has resulted in the murder of at least ten people at the time of the commencement of these proceedings.
It was also pointed out that the CAB case saw Roe surrender a Kawasaki motorbike and an Audi A5 car to a value of €38,000. Incredibly, in his response to this, Roe told the Ombudsman that he handed them over only to “stop a costly legal fight for which I mentally nor financially could take part in due to family loss in Regency Hotel at a family boxing event”. That boxing event was the now infamous ‘Clash of Clans’ event weigh-in that saw Roe’s cousin David Byrne shot dead in the foyer of the North Dublin Hotel.
Roe went on to complain that he had no money - but as pointed out in our letter to the Ombudsman, the CAB were able to determine he lived an unexplained lavish lifestyle - travelling to the UK, Malaga and the USA on six occasions between July 2015 and June 2016. He also attended the Conor McGregor vs Chad Mendes fight in the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas in July 2015, and travelled to Dubai in late February and early March 2016 - following the shooting at the Regency.
Neither of the flights nor the flight tickets were paid for through any account in the name of Liam Roe. Roe was also unable to explain an account in which the massive sum of €294,000 was lodged. He also had eleven vehicles registered to his name - most of which were top-end luxury cars.
In its decision, the Press Ombudsman said that this paper “did not breach Mr Roe’s right to privacy” and said what was published “was justifiable, in the public interest". Last week, we revealed that Gardaí long suspected Roe of involvement in three shootings - including one murder. According to sources, Gardaí believe that Roe was part of the gang that murdered the brother of rival boss Brian Rattigan - and also attempted to assassinate Rattigan himself.
Our sources have revealed that Roe, who is related to Byrne and Freddie Thompson, was believed to be involved in three shootings during the 2000s. They also stated that around 2010, he was no longer seen as a foot soldier and climbed up the ranks, meaning he didn't have to personally carry out shootings.
The three shootings Roe is suspected of were all linked to the Crumlin / Drimnagh feud in South Dublin, a conflict that resulted in the deaths of 15 men. Rattigan, 44, led one gang, while Thompson led the other, with Roe siding with Thompson.
The Irish Mirror has been informed that Roe was one of four men who attempted to kill Rattigan at a house in South Dublin in 2002. Despite being shot at close range, Rattigan miraculously survived. Gardaí suspect that Roe was part of the four-man hit squad involved in this attack. The deceased suspects were identified as Paddy Doyle and Darren Geoghegan. Doyle, notorious for at least two homicides in his hometown, fled to Spain in late 2005 and got mixed up with the Kinahan cartel.
However, after some time, the cartel's trust in him waned, and the decision was made to eliminate him. Gary Hutch was instrumental in orchestrating Doyle's murder and was in the car with the 27 year old when he was fatally shot outside Estepona. Roe was also under suspicion for an attempted murder in the Coombe district of south central Dublin in June 2002; however, the target survived, and Roe faced no charges.
Initially a mere foot soldier, Roe swiftly climbed the gang's hierarchy, and by 2018, he was acknowledged in court as a "trusted lieutenant" of a kingpin who controlled a significant crime network locally and helmed Daniel Kinahan's operations across Ireland and Europe.
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