Jim Mansfield Jnr chats with convicted Real IRA man while celebrating son's racetrack debut

Our photos were taken years after Dessie O'Hare, Declan 'Whacker' Duffy and a group of their heavies kidnapped one of Mansfield's employees, beat and terrorised him.

Mansfield was found not guilty of involvement in the kidnap but was sentenced this week to two years in prison - with six months suspended - for perverting the course of justice in relation to the criminal investigation into the shocking events at his family home in June 2015.

During the trial, State witness Martin Byrne, a former head of security at Citywest, was described as a 'unreliable and dishonest' by Mansfield Jnr's legal team - but the judges at the Special Criminal Court disagreed.

Byrne had claimed during evidence that Kinsella was one of a number of terrorists who regularly frequented the Mansfield family home and was so relaxed in the surroundings that he treated it as an office.

Now, these Sunday World pictures confirm the close relations between Mansfield and the terror thug in the years after the events that forced Byrne on to the "Witness Protection Programme."

We can also reveal how a garda probe into money laundering is ongoing and both Mansfield and Kinsella are persons of interest in investigations by a number of specialist units of An Garda Siochana.

The purchase of high-end cars, luxury houses and the transfer of funds between accounts are being examined in a probe involving the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), the Special Detective Unit and the Garda's National Economic Crime Bureau.

Mansfield has already been quizzed in relation to the investigation, while the million-euro home where Kinsella lives in Blackrock has been the subject of raids.

Kinsella was a key part of the Real IRA gang who ran a massive extortion racket under murdered leader Alan Ryan. He survived a shooting himself in 2012 - two months after his boss was assassinated.

During the recent Mansfield trial, State witness Martin Byrne said that Jimmy Jnr was at one point paying €2,500 a week to the Real IRA to protect him from the Wall Traveller gang and a family described as the 'Kavanaghs', who said they were owed money.

Byrne claimed that Mansfield Jnr wanted to attend Alan Ryan's funeral when the terror thug was shot, but that the security chief went in his place.

Kinsella was jailed in February 2014 but was sentenced to just two years behind bars after pleading guilty to membership of an unlawful organisation.

Released from jail, he headed straight back to the heart of Mansfield's privileged world and was regularly collated with the businessman at Finnstown House Hotel.

Our photographs show Kinsella in attendance at a family event at Mondello Park where Mansfield's son, Sam, was taking to the track in a racing car.

Sources say that the younger Mansfield was furious that Kinsella showed up at his event, believing that the terror thug was taking advantage of his father's 'soft' nature.

Kinsella was so close to Mansfield Jnr's business that he even began a romantic relationship with one of his members of staff.

The father-of-six left his north-inner city home and wife, with the pair moving to Blackrock to a house purchased for almost €1 million and refurbished to a high standard.

Kinsella has not held down a job since he left jail, however, he continues to live in the six-bedroom, four-bathroom home at Richmond off Newtownpark Avenue.

It is understood that the registered owner of the home, a builder, has spoken to detectives and told them a rental agreement is now in place with Kinsella's partner.

Kinsella and his partner have also been spotted driving a variety of expensive cars, including an Audi, a Mercedes and a BMW, which he has been regularly stopped over recent months.

In April 2020, heavily-armed officers surrounded the property and moved in to search it, removing documents and electronic devices.

In August 2020, Mansfield was quizzed about financial transactions as he awaited trial at the Special Criminal Court.

In a separate part of the financial probe, a gated mansion in Saggart is understood to be one of the focuses of an ongoing CAB investigation into Mansfield-linked properties.

Gardai have been told that Kinsella owes money to a number of different businessmen and regularly threatens them with "colleagues" from the North.

Associates of his are understood to be behind a pipe bomb attack on the home of a south Dublin car dealer who has been placed on a high risk list by Gardaí and who has been furnished with a GIM informing him of a threat to his life.