Banged up Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh ‘not engaging’ with CAB over luxury mansion case

The Bureau need to serve orders on Kavanagh and mob boss Daniel Kinahan to dispose of the west Dublin property which is under their control.

Evidence was previously given that both mobsters took control of the mansion at 10 Coldwater Lakes in Saggart after Jim Mansfield Jnr failed to invest €4.5m for them.

The businessman and his family have disavowed any interest in the home as well as nearly €50,000 in cash recovered by gardaí.

Jim Jnr is currently serving a jail term in Portlaoise Prison for attempting to impede the garda investigation into the abduction of his former security chief.

Today the High Court in Dublin heard officers from the Metropolitan Police had again spoken to Kavanagh in London where he is serving a lengthy jail term.

They attempted to ascertain if he was aware of the case and if he wanted to obtain legal representation, but Kavanagh replied "no comment" to several questions.

Shelley Horan BL, for the Bureau, said that in those circumstances they do not expect him "to engage in proceedings in anyway" but added they were not seeking orders against him at this stage.

They are also hoping to fix a hearing date for the matter in October but are still attempting to serve orders on Kinahan.

Earlier this year Kavanagh was jailed for a total of 21-years after pleading guilty to conspiring to import multi-million-euro drug shipments into the UK.

He is serving his sentence in HMP Belmarsh, a maximum security facility in London, after being transferred there for "security reasons".

Cab investigators and London police officers had previously attempted to engage with Kavanagh at the prison in relation to the High Court case but were unsuccessful.

In one instance he told a garda detective "I don't want to talk to you, go away" while on a separate occasion he replied "no comment" when approached by local officers.

The court previously heard that attempts had been made to convey legitimate ownership of 10 Coldwater Lakes to Kavanagh but this was unsuccessful.

Evidence was also given that Jim Jnr was given two suitcases containing €4.5m in cash to invest in property on behalf of Kinahan and Kavanagh but that this fell through following the collapse of the Mansfield empire.

The Bureau said that property and cash were then effectively given to the mob bosses as a form of repayment for the failed deal.

While the mansion was previously owned and of historical interest to the Mansfield family, the court heard that Kinahan took over control of it in 2014.

Cab are still attempting to serve orders on him and last week secured permission to do so by registered post at two separate addresses in Dubai.

Both addresses were published by the US Government in April after it imposed financial sanctions on the Kinahan Crime Group's leadership including Daniel Kinahan, his father Christopher Vincent Sr, and brother Christy Jnr.

A CAB officer said in an affidavit that the likelihood of effecting personal service on Daniel Kinahan was “very low” and addresses in Dubai were often in gated communities with manned security desks.

Consequently, CAB sought to serve proceedings by registered post.

Ms Horan today said that they would update the court on service at the next date and that they were hoping to fix a hearing date in October.

Mr Justice Michael MacGrath put the matter back to July 19 for an update on service.