Feuding criminal Paul Crosby jailed for 10 years for his role in Keane Mulready Woods murder

Paul Crosby was today handed down a 10 year sentence, while his co-accused Gerard Cruise was given seven years in prison by the Special Criminal Court.

They were each given a further six months suspended.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Tony Hunt said it was a "heinous and appalling crime" and the victim's remains were treated in a "disgraceful and inhuman way that beggars belief."

This compounded the grief that was a "permanent feature of this family's landscape," the judge said.

He expressed the court's condolences to the family, saying it was "painful and unnatural" for any parent to lose a child, particularly when it comes about by murder.

The sentences were backdated to account for time served.

Crosby (27) and Cruise (49), both from Rathmullan Park, Drogheda, Co Louth pleaded guilty to facilitating the murder at Rathmullan Park between January 11 and 13, 2020.

The pair brought the 17-year-old to the house where he was killed but there was no evidence they were present at the time of the murder.

He was reported missing and his dismembered remains were later discovered at three locations in Dublin and Drogheda.

Gardai suspect he was killed by "notorious" criminal Robbie Lawlor, who was involved in a gang feud in Drogheda and was shot dead in April 2020.

Previously, the court heard that Keane Mulready-Woods was last seen alive on January 12, 2020.

That evening, he met Crosby at a Centra shop in Drogheda, where they got into Cruise’s Volkswagen and the three drove to Rathmullan Park.

The teenager was dropped off at the home of Gerard ‘Ged’ McKenna, where the murder happened.

The last sighting of the victim was on CCTV footage which showed him at the back of the house at 6.48pm with three other men, including Robbie Lawlor

Mr Mulready-Woods’ mother reported him missing the next day, January 13. A short time later, gardaí received confidential information that he had been murdered.

At 10pm that night, at Moatview Drive, Priorswood, Dublin a man found a sports bag containing the teenager’s arms and legs.

It had been thrown from a passing Volvo car.

False number plates for the car had been purchased earlier that day by Cruise.

On January 14, gardai searched the home of Gerard ‘Ged’ McKenna, which was confirmed as the site of the murder by DNA and blood spatter evidence.

The next day, January 15, the Volvo was found burnt out at Trinity Terrace in Drumcondra, Dublin with the victim's head and feet found inside.

The rest of the teenager’s remains were not recovered until the following April 1, 2021, when his torso was discovered in a sports bag hidden in an overgrown ravine on waste ground at Rathmullan Park.

After he was arrested, Cruise admitted to gardai that he dropped Mr Mulready-Woods and Crosby at McKenna’s house.

Cruise told gardai that everything seemed fine between the teenager and Crosby and he did not know what was to happen at the house.

Crosby told gardai nothing of evidential value in interview.

McKenna was jailed last year for four years for assisting in the clean-up of the crime scene following the murder.

Crosby had more than 40 previous convictions for charges including drugs, motoring, theft and fraud offences, the court heard.

Following a trial in February 2019, he was acquitted of an unrelated attempted murder.

His barrister Michael Bowman SC, said Crosby had difficulties with cocaine from a young age but was now abstaining from drugs.

Cruise, a grandfather and father-of-four had previous convictions for possession of drugs, burglary and public order offences.

His barrister Bernard Condon SC, said Cruise apologised for his involvement and expressed his “horror” at what happened.

He said that Cruise did not know what was going to happen when he dropped Crosby and Keane off.

The victim’s mother, Elizabeth Woods in a victim impact statement described her son's murder as an “inhumane, violent and barbaric death”.

She said it was “one of the most brutal, tragic and horrifying murders in the history of Ireland”, and she hoped no other family would go through what her family had.

She recalled the two burials for her son as his body parts were found at different times in different areas of the country.

On his birthday, she said the family brings cake to his grave. “Keane would never mind what presents he got as long as he had a nice cake,” she said.

She hears him call to her and battles every day with knowing that she couldn’t help her son.

“The haunting nightmares will live with us forever,” she said. “The loss is something we will have to live with. You don’t get over it, you don’t move on.”