Gangster Alan Wilson to serve just seven years over triple shooting following guilty plea

Three charges of attempted murder, which carry maximum life sentences, were dropped against Wilson, who was recorded on tape admitting to the shootings, after he entered the plea.

Sources said Wilson was aware, in entering the guilty plea, that the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for conspiracy to murder is soon to be replaced by Justice Minister Helen McEntee with a maximum life sentence.

"Even if Wilson gets the maximum 10-year sentence that applies right now," a source said, "two and a half years will be taken off in remission under prison regulations."

Wilson has also pleaded guilty to possession of a .38 calibre Smith & Wesson revolver and a .32 calibre Zastava semi-automatic pistol on dates between July 24 and July 26, 2010. He faces ­further jail time on the firearms charges.

The shootings are believed to have been carried out on the orders of deceased IRA boss Sean Hunt.

The intended target was deceased Real IRA boss Alan Ryan, with whom Hunt had fallen out, but three innocent people were shot instead.

Pub doorman Wayne Barrett from Finglas, spent three weeks in an induced coma in Beaumont Hospital after he was shot once in the head and twice in the body.

Customer Austen Purcell was shot a number of times while his friend Brian Masterson suffered superficial gunshot wounds and was released from hospital after three days.

Wilson, who had been on trial since November 1, at the three-judge, non-jury Special Criminal Court, is already ­serving a six-year sentence from 2019 for conspiring to murder Kinahan cartel target Gary Hanley.

He is being held 'on protection' in a secure wing of the Midlands Prison after former associates in the Kinahan cartel turned on him in the wake of the botched hit on Hanley.

He previously survived a stabbing attempt on his life in Mountjoy Prison.

During this month's trial, former head of the National Surveillance Unit (NSU), retired Detective Superintendent ­William Johnson told the court that on October 13, 2017, he authorised members of the NSU to put a listening device into a car he believed was being used by Wilson and others in their activities as members of the Kinahan cartel

The prosecution alleged the devices recorded Wilson admitting to shooting three men outside the lounge.

At the beginning of the trial Ronan Kennedy SC, for the prosecution, said Wilson could be heard in one recording saying: "Remember the shooting at the Player's Lounge; I done that."

In another, the prosecution alleged he expressed amazement at how one of the men survived, saying: "One of them, right in the forehead and five times in the body, it's amazing how the c***s pull."

In September last year Justice Minister Helen McEntee announced she had secured the approval of the Government to draft a Bill to increase the maximum sentence for those convicted of conspiracy to murder.

The maximum has been 10 years since 1861. She said An Garda Síochána are doing their job by arresting those intent on committing murder, and that her proposals are targeted at gangland criminals.

"The first piece of criminal justice legislation I am bringing forward as Minister will increase the maximum sentence for conspiracy to murder from 10 years to life," she said.

"Criminals have been intercepted and prevented from murdering people thanks to the good work of An Garda Síochána," she added.