Robbie Lawlor (died 4 April 2020) was an Irish criminal. He was originally from

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, but had lived in

County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

and was heavily involved in organised crime, including the Drogheda feud. In November 2022, Lawlor was named in court documents submitted by the

Criminal Assets Bureau The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) () is a law enforcement agency in Ireland. The CAB was established with powers to focus on the illegally acquired assets of criminals involved in serious crime. The aims of the CAB are to identify the criminally ...

as the gunman who shot Owen Maguire six times during a 2018 assassination attempt in Drogheda. He was well known to Gardaí for being involved in serious and organised crime. He was a suspect in the murders of Kenneth Finn and David Lynch among other crimes. He had over 100 convictions and had been released from prison in December 2019. He had been warned by Gardaí that his life was in danger before he went to Belfast.

Mugging

He was mugged by teenagers after leaving a gym in December 2019, which was filmed by his assailants, suspected to include Keane Mulready-Woods, a teenager involved with the rival gang who would be subsequently lured to his death which was suspected to have been ordered at the hands of Lawlor. During this daylight assault on Lawlor, the assailants stole his gym bag and flip-flops and posted photos of them wearing the latter after the mugging. The assault was allegedly at the behest of a criminal foe of Lawlor. In ruthless revenge, Mulready-Woods' head and hands were severed from the body, and bags with body parts left in rival turfs in holdalls. The presence of flip-flops in the bag with Mulready-Woods' remains dumped in Coolock was widely interpreted as a threat not to cross Lawlor.

Death

On 4 April 2020, he was shot around 11:50am outside a house in Etna Drive, Ardoyne in north

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. The PSNI and

Garda Síochána (; meaning "the Guardian(s) of the Peace") is the national police and security service of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (; "Guardians") or "the Guards". The service is headed by the Garda Commissio ...

believe he had travelled to Belfast in the hours before he was shot, possibly to collect debts. As well as being a suspect in the death of Keane Mulready-Woods he was suspected of being responsible for a number of other killings. He had been threatened by one faction in the Drogheda feud but was also at odds with a major Dublin criminal who is suspected of several murders including that of Alan Ryan. Three men suspected of the murder were arrested and questioned by the PSNI at Musgrave police station. Three suspects were arrested on April 4, a fourth was arrested on April 5. The shooting was condemned by Detective Sergeant Jason Murphy, as a murder, as a danger to the local community and due to the additional pressures caused by

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The shooting was also condemned by

Minister for Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

Naomi Long Naomi Rachel Long MLA (née Johnston; born 13 December 1971) is a Northern Irish politician who has served as Minister of Justice in the Northern Ireland Executive since February 2024, having previously served from January 2020 to October 202 ...

and

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

MLA Gerry Kelly. The PSNI suspect that a single gunman shot Lawlor.

Charges brought

In December 2020 two men, one from

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

and one from

, were charged with his murder. Both were also charged with possession of a 9mm pistol with intent to endanger life. They appeared via videolink and spoke only to confirm that they understood the charges. They were remanded in custody, to appear before the court by videolink again on 8 January 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawlor, Robbie Irish gangsters Murdered Irish gangsters 2020 deaths Deaths by firearm in Northern Ireland Criminals from Dublin (city)