CAB target Connors crime empire as 'Fat' Andy's sister hands over €130k and five acres of land

Elizabeth Wall, a sister of murdered 'Fat' Andy Connors and the late 'Fat' Jimmy Connors and her husband, John Wall, have agreed to hand over five acres of land in Carlow and more than €130,000 in cash to the State after they were targeted by the Bureau.

The High Court heard the case, listed Wall, had been settled when it was called during the recent CAB list and it is understood that a Section 4a allowing for the transfer of the land and money to the Minster for Public Expenditure and Reform is expected to be signed within the coming weeks.

The CAB have already targeted numerous members of the wider Connors clan after investigating their links to organised crime for decades.

A revenue demand for €2.5 million is currently in place against Ann Connors, the widow of gang boss 'Fat' Andy' who was murdered at his Saggart property in 2014.

The Bureau have 'judgement' mortgages on several properties in her name including The Ranch and The Villa which remains in the family ownership despite an earlier CAB case focused on the large house.

Two years ago the ex-wife of 'Fat' Jimmy Connors, who choked to death on a hamburger, was ordered to hand over her expensive jewellery after a court heard that her close associates have amassed an incredible 1,346 convictions between them.

Despite having 16 children together, couple Margaret and 'Fat' Jimmy split shortly before he died while chewing on fast food in 2019.

At that time, 'Fat' Jimmy, a prolific burglar had amassed 320 convictions.

Before his murder, 'Fat' Andy Connors was targeted a number of times by gardaí under Operation Fiacla which identified 200 members of his gang. It is suspected he was killed by an INLA gang in a row over money he claims he was owed.

One man has been arrested in connection with the shooting, which was carried out in front of wife Ann and six children, but nobody has been charged in relation to it.

In its case against Margaret Connors, the CAB revealed that she had been claiming one parent family payment in respect of three children along with child benefit.

Prior to her divorce in 2016 she had received a Basic Supplementary Welfare.

'Fat' Jimmy Connors had spent his adult life in and out of court and served a number of prison sentences.

In 2018, during one of his final appearances, Justice David McHugh said he his 'litany of previous offences was some kind of record.'

The court heard his prior convictions included driving offences, burglary, threats to kill and assault.

For decades the Connors brothers headed up a large burglary gang and 'Fat' Andy operated as an underworld banker loaning money to criminal figures for illegal enterprises and laundering the proceeds of robberies which terrorised businesses and residents in rural Ireland.

Now his wife has gone to battle with neighbours in the quiet area of Saggart, where they claim she has breached planning laws with illegal developments around her lands at The Ranch, which she has turned into a sprawling unofficial halting site.

She has even expanded onto a neighbouring site owned by the Mansfield family, where she has laid 2,000 sqm of concrete, tapped into plumbing and waste water systems, built a surrounding wall and opened up an entrance onto the main road.

That site is registered to Boherboy Properties, a Mansfield company.

Enforcement notices have been sent to Anne Mansfield, the widow of the late Jim Mansfield Snr, along with her son PJ and grandson Samuel who may now face a hefty bill to remove the works despite the fact that they are understood to have had nothing to do with the developments.

Earlier this summer, the Council sent planning enforcement orders to Connors to return the sites to their original state or face the bill for authorities doing so.

Ongoing complaints have been made to the Council in relation to planning offences, littering and dumping, as well as the installation of sewage pipes. Yet nothing has been done to follow up on her inaction.