One person involved in attack at boxing weigh-in wore wig, say police as taoiseach pledges to act on organised crime

Dublin Regency hotel shooting: one of six-strong gang 'was dressed as a woman'

One of the six-strong gang behind a fatal shooting at a boxing weigh-in at a Dublin hotel on Friday was dressed as a woman, police have said.

The Garda Síochána confirmed one of the attackers, who carried a handgun, was wearing an auburn wig and a grey dress during the attack in which gang member David Byrne was killed and another two men, Byrne’s friends Sean McGovern and Aaron Bolger, were injured.

“One was a man disguised as a woman and wearing an auburn wig, and the other was stocky and wearing a beige cap,” a Garda spokesman said. It is believed one man remained in a getaway vehicle while two others waited outside.

Byrne belonged to a gang run from Spain by convicted drug dealer Christy Kinahan. He had been a chief target of specialist garda units, suspected of narcotics smuggling, according to the Irish Independent.

Byrne was also suspected of being involved in a 2006 murder, and cleared of involvement in another attack in 2008 after a 20-year-old man was shot in Ballyfermot.

McGovern, who is in a serious condition after being shot in the stomach, is said to be a close childhood friend of Byrne.

In a coordinated attack, two of the gunmen carrying AK-47 rifles wore military-style helmets and police Swat-type uniforms. Police have released CCTV pictures of them entering the Regency hotel around shortly after 2pm on Friday.



It has also emerged that Irish detectives received intelligence suggesting an attack was planned for the “Clash of the Clans” boxing event at the National Stadium on Saturday, rather than at the weigh-in on Friday.



The boxing clash, with the top-bill fight between Irish boxer Jamie Kavanagh and Antonio Joao Bento from Portugal for the vacant WBO European Lightweight title, has now been cancelled.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Police outside the Regency hotel in Dublin on Friday. Photograph: Caroline Quinn/AFP/Getty Images

The Garda also said the killers ran out of the hotel towards a waiting van, which was later found burnt out at the back of a housing estate off Griffith Avenue in north Dublin.



The outgoing taoiseach, Enda Kenny, said on Saturday that if re-elected, his government would establish a second non-jury special criminal court to counter the gangland killings in Dublin.

Kenny promised his Fine Gael party would press for the creation of a second court to deal with witness intimidation and put more Irish gangsters behind bars.

Gardai say the attack could be the start of a major north-v-south-Dublin crime war between Kinahan and an infamous Irish gangster known as the Monk.

Kenny said: “It is an appalling incident that happened in broad daylight in a family-run hotel. I have spoken to the minister for justice this morning, and she has assured the Garda commissioner that whatever resources needed will be provided.”

Ireland’s current special criminal court was established in the early 70s to charge suspects with terrorist offences connected to the Northern Ireland Troubles.

Kenny said there was “ample evidence of jury intimidation” continuing in the state in connection to gangland killings.

Over the last 15 years there have been 200 gangland-related killings in Ireland, mostly in Dublin. The overwhelming majority remain unsolved.