Cornelius Price buried in secret UK funeral with Captain Morgan’s wreath on grave

Our exclusive photos show floral tributes to the depraved gangster at his grave in which he is described as “legend”, “king” and “golden balls” in colourful wreaths which also depicted boxing gloves and a number of different floral versions of vehicles.

Photo montages of the notorious criminal nicknamed ‘Nailyboy’ by pals as well as personal written messages from family and friends were placed on the grave along with a large replica bottle of Captain Morgan’s rum.

Famously a video of Price was posted on social media celebrating the gun murder of his arch rival Robbie Lawlor in April 2020 by toasting it with a glass of Captain Morgan’s.

Price told the camera from his UK hideout with a sneer on his face: “Cheers to Robbie Lawlor, rest in peace. He’s not even meant to rest in peace but fair play to you. There you go boy,” Price adds before drinking a shot of the spirit.

But as Price toasted the murder of Lawlor, a fatal shooting that he is suspected of having a degree of involvement in, Price was becoming a major target for specialist police in the UK and was arrested just three months later as part of an investigation into an organised crime kidnap plot.

It is understood that dozens of family and friends of Price travelled by ferry over the weekend from north Co Dublin, Meath and Louth for his funeral this morning in Rochdale.

“Top secrecy surrounded this event in the hours leading up to it – Price’s family did not want any publicity in case the funeral was hijacked by his enemies or the media.

"For once they were all very silent on social media,” a source told sundayworld.com.

Before Price was buried in Rochdale Cemetery, a 20-minute non denominational funeral service was held in a chapel within the graveyard.

The criminal who was directly linked to at least four gruesome murders died 15 days ago in a Welsh hospital from complications linked to a severe brain condition called limbic encephalitis which he had suffered from since October 2021 and which had left him comatose.

Drogheda feud gangster Price had been based in England since he fled there in the aftermath of the murder of teenager Keane Mulready Woods in January, 2020.

The diabolical plan hatched by the teenager’s murderer, and Price’s arch enemy, Robbie Lawlor, was to deliver Keane’s decapitated head to the compound where the 41-year-old father-of-two lived.

Price was charged with a number of other criminals in relation to a botched kidnap plot in London in July 2020 but was too ill to stand trial.

Before he fled Ireland, Price’s gang are suspected of abducting and murdering Willie Maughan (34) and his pregnant Latvian girlfriend, Ana Varslavane (21), on April 14, 2015, near Price’s compound in Gormanston, Co Meath.

The tragic pair were planning on moving out of the compound to go back to his family home in Tallaght on the day they went missing and are understood to have been brutally murdered because they had key information about the gang’s activities, including another murder.

No trace of their bodies has ever been found but they are believed to have been burnt after their gruesome murder.

Price’s gang are also the chief suspects for the unsolved murder of Benny Whitehouse and Price was previously arrested for this crime. Mr Whitehouse was shot dead at Clonard Street, Balbriggan, on September 25, 2014, in front of his partner as part of a separate feud.

His gang are suspects for a sickening incident in August 2016 when the grave of Willie Maughan’s brother was dug up at at Bohernabreena Cemetery in Tallaght, but Price was on remand in jail at the time.

The sinister incident occurred just a day after Michael's father Joe appealed for information to help find the remains of his son Willie.

Price served a three year jail sentence for reckless endangerment of a garda – his most serious criminal stretch.

While serving his sentence he was involved in a number of savage rows and feuds which led him to be transferred to different jails and isolation units.

He was suspected of ordering dozens of attacks against his enemies and perceived rivals including an incident where he is alleged to have forced a Brazilian inmate to slice up a rival Traveller in a botched attack.

Before being released he was officially warned by gardaí of an active threat against his life and spent most of the seven months after his release in England only to arrive back in Ireland in December 2019 as the Drogheda feud was about to explode and make international headlines with the murder of Keane Mulready Woods.