Cornelius Price still due for trial next month despite being 'gravely ill' in hospital

The notorious gangster was due to go on trial next Monday on the date of his 40th birthday, at Wood Green Crown Court in London along with five other defendants.

However it can now be revealed that this trial has been adjourned to January 10 next year at the same court venue.

A spokeswoman for Wood Gren Crown Court confirmed that all defendants “are listed for trial on that date.

However the case is listed for a “mention hearing” next Tuesday where it may be revealed that Price could be too ill to attend the case.

“All the indications are that Price remains gravely ill in hospital so it is very hard to see how he could attend a trial in Wales next month,” a source said.

“More details could come out in court next week but there is definitely an expectation he won’t be able to attend despite still being listed for trial,” the source added.

If the gangland kidnap plot trial does go ahead as planned next month, it is expected to last for around two months.

Price has been in a Welsh hospital since September and has been treated on an ICU ward and his very serious illness is not connected to any act of violence participated on him.

In March, Price, who is part of the Maguire faction in the deadly Drogheda feud, was released on bail in the UK where he is awaiting trial for his part in a kidnapping plot.

He had been living in the Midlands in England but moved to Wales over the summer

Price is one of six people who have been charged in England over a plot to kidnap two men.

The gangster is charged with two counts of conspiring to falsely imprison Muhammed and Shah Ali last July, as well as two counts of conspiring to blackmail both men on the same dates.

One of Ireland’s most notorious criminals, Price has to wear an electronic tag as part of his bail conditions.

Drogheda criminal Mark Kavanagh (32) - originally from Yellowbatter in the Co Louth town but with an address in Manchester - is also facing similar charges.

Two other men, Darren McClean and Quincy Bramble, are charged with the kidnap of Muhammed Ali on July 8.

Price, Kavanagh, McClean, Bramble, Danny Bridges and Lisa Finnerty are also charged with conspiring to unlawfully imprison Muhammed and Shah Ali, and detain them against their will, between July 7 and 17.

Earlier this year all six entered not guilty pleas to the charges when they were arraigned in court.

Price has been based in the UK since the gruesome murder of teenager Keane Mulready Woods in January of last year which was carried out by mobsters opposed to him in the Drogheda feud.

His 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 mob are also the chief suspects for the murder of 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.