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LAST OF WESTIES IS CAGED

Hermin the Vermin is jailed for eight years over botched robbery

HE was the last man standing in the once powerful Westies gang - but this week Hermin 'The Vermin' White's luck finally ran out.

Thug White (32) was caged for eight years after pleading guilty to possession of a handgun, car theft and three counts of burglary on Thursday.

The court heard how White admitted he was planning to rob €60,000 from a home in the Phoenix Park after threatening the occupants with a gun.

Stolen

After he was intercepted by gardai, White tried to flee the scene in a stolen Mercedes and was involved in a high-speed chase on the M1 motorway.

The pursuit ended when he crashed into a chasing garda car, fracturing the garda's wrist.

The Vermin, who has 48 previous convictions,was previously a senior member of the Westies Mob who ruthlessly ruled the criminal underworld in Blanchardstown.

But White's eight-year sentence means the leaders of the notorious West Dublin drug gang are either behind bars or in the grave.

Shane Coates (27) and Stephen Sugg (31) were both found buried in concrete in an industrial estate in Allicante in Spain in 2006.

The psychotic pair were the leaders of the Westies and made millions of euro selling heroin in Blanchardstown and Corduff.

Sugg's brother Bernard 'Verb', who was also a senior member of the Westies, was gunned down outside the Brookwood Inn on August 2003.

White was involved in one of the most notorious incidents of the Westies reign of terror.

Sugg and Coates ordered the ambush and torture of drug addict Derek 'Smiley' McGuinness, who owed them £200 for drugs.

Along with violent criminal Andrew Allen,White attacked the drug addict after bumping into him in a park.

Without any warning, White produced an iron bar and hit McGuinness hard across the head and face. Stephen Sugg joined the
gang and McGuinness was repeated beaten with the bar before Sugg viciously sliced his face and had with a stanley knife.

McGuinness spent several days in intensive care and needed 60 stitches and lost nine pints of blood as a result of the attack.

White was eventually jailed for four years for his role in the attack. In court on Thursday, White, from Corduff Park, Blanchardstown,
pleaded guilty to possession of a handgun, car theft, dangerous driving and three counts of burglary in the Malahide area on May 25, 2005.

Arrested

The court heard White told gardai he owed €20,000 to a group for drugs after he was arrested. He claimed they had given him the gun and told him to call to a house in the park.

He was to show the occupants the gun and say: "I know you've got €60,000 under the table."

He said he never intended to hurt anyone and was not going to point the gun during the robbery.

Judge Delahunt noted he had not violently confronted anyone during any of the offences but was "very close to doing so".

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