The home address of former Justice Minister Alan Shatter was found during a search of a highly dangerous prisoner’s cell in Dublin’s Cloverhill Prison, the Sunday Independent has learned.

Prison officers also found a map and diagram of a house, which they believe was part of an assassination plot, during a search of the prisoner's cell in October 2011.

It was subsequently established that this was not Mr Shatter’s home, but gardai have never established who this intended victim was or if he or she is still alive or dead

The prisoner, who is currently serving a jail term in connection with a serious assault, is linked to a major Irish drugs cartel based in Spain.

He is suspected of multiple killings and is regarded by senior gardai as one of the most dangerous men in the country.

He is believed to have worked as a professional assassin, moving between here and Spain on false documents, and has been linked to up to 20 murders, including the torture and secret burial of a number of his victims here and in Spain.

The search followed the interception of calls from a landline phone for prisoners’ use in the jail.

All calls from these lines are monitored. During July and August 2011 the prisoner made 17 calls to an associate and the content of the calls constituted a conspiracy to murder two men, one a highly respected garda.

After prison authorities passed on recordings of the calls, an order was given to search the prisoner’s cell. This uncovered the then minister’s home address and the diagram and map of the unknown residence.

When questioned, the prisoner said he had Mr Shatter’s home address as he intended writing to him personally about his appeal against his conviction and sentence for his part in an attempted murder.

His intended victim survived serious injuries, but was too intimidated to co-operate with gardai.

The prisoner was also questioned about the content of the phone calls in which he ordered an associate to carry out two murders over the summer months of 2011.

The prisoner’s associate acquired addresses for the two intended victims — including the garda — by a search of the Land Registry office in Dublin.

When asked about the plot to murder the garda and second man, the prisoner claimed he was not serious about the threat, but was angry about allegations made about him. He was not charged.

His two associates were arrested and questioned in November 2011, but they too have not been charged despite what appears to be clear evidence of a conspiracy to murder.

Gardai are angry about the failure to prosecute an apparent murder plot by a man they regard as highly dangerous and responsible for many murders.

He told gardai during one interrogation that he liked to torture victims until they pleaded to be put out of their misery and killed.

The prisoner comes from what gardai describe as a highly dysfunctional family from inner city Dublin. He has close associates serving sentences for murder and other serious offences.

Online Editors