Grave of prolific burglar whose brother died in car crash last week damaged in attack

Jason Casey’s brother Danny Casey (16), from Limerick, was seriously injured in a crash on the R505/R661 at Dundrum junction.

The tragic youngster was rushed to hospital along with a man in his 30s and another male teenager.

Relatives of Danny Casey, who was a talented young boxer, posted a picture of him in hospital and asked that people pray for him to survive but he was later pronounced dead.

The death is the latest to befall his family after the death of his brother Jason ‘Jake the Snake’ Casey (29) on Christmas Day 2021.

Danny praised his brother in a series of online tributes after his death.

“Simply the best, never be another man like him, one of a kind, my brother,” he said.

Jason was a prolific burglar and his associates posted a series of bizarre tributes online praising him for his crimes after his death.

He had been a top target for gardai under Operation Thor and was suspected of being “highly active” in burglaries both here and in Northern Ireland.

Jason was linked to a cross-border burglary team and intelligence connected him to a wider network of 30 criminals across Munster and Leinster.

In December 2021, he was suspected of involvement in an aggravated burglary in the Midlands and managed to escape from gardai by jumping into a river.

The Sunday World can reveal that Jason’s grave was damaged in January this year.

His wife Jane posted pictures of the damaged grave in which showed smashed up lanterns and pictures.

She wrote: “Dirty scum won’t have a hour’s luck, ye must have a lot of time in yere (sic) hands when ye could drill a photo out of concrete. God is slow but sure and for the ones that put there (sic) hands on my husband grave won’t have hour’s luck something must be bothering ye that ye keep doing things to the grave but won’t do if yere caught.”

After Jason’s death, associates and relatives have posted a series of tributes describing him as the “king of the road” and “king of Munster gang”.

They also shared a number of news articles of burglaries which appear to be attributed to Casey.

One post featured an article originally published by the Irish Independent on an organised crime gang using a high-powered car to carry out rural raids.

The mob used a 3.3 litre Kia Stinger and were involved in up to 10 burglaries of service stations in 2020.

A relative of ‘Jake’ shared a screenshot of the article and wrote online: “First in Ireland to get a Kia Stinger. Best in the business at what he did.”

Another image of Casey has ‘King of Munster Gang’ written on it along with a picture of a Kia Stinger.

Footage of his funeral showed mourners dressed in black caps, masks and gloves carrying Casey’s gold coffin to and from the church.

It is understood the man in his 30s who was injured in last week’s crash remains in a serious condition in hospital.