A notorious gangland criminal is under investigation after a flat where his former girlfriend lived was set on fire less than 24 hours after he was convicted of assaulting her.

Woman-beater and gun-for-hire Daniel Prenderville (27) will be sentenced in February for his latest attack on the woman, with whom he has a child.

But in a sinister development, her flat was set on fire only hours after Prenderville's latest conviction for violence against her. However, gardai are investigating several lines of inquiry in relation to the incident.

Dublin fire brigade was called to the fire at Vincent Street flats in the south inner city shortly after 10.30pm on Thursday.

A source said: "The property was extensively damaged. This was a very serious incident, and gardai are investigating if Prenderville's cronies are behind it."

Detectives are also investigating if thugs linked to Prenderville were behind a savage assault last weekend on his ex, who had already been attacked on several occasions.

This week, after a lengthy trial, Prenderville was convicted of assaulting the woman at Seagull House flats in Crumlin on October 25, 2011.

Separately last July, he admitted dragging her along the ground before repeatedly kicking her in the face during a cocaine-fuelled attack in June, 2012.

Less than three months later, Prenderville was caught on his way to shoot a criminal nicknamed Baby Boy in Rathfarnham. Senior sources said he was to have been paid ¿1,000 for shooting the man in the legs at a south Dublin halting site.

Baby Boy owed ¿10,000 at the time to the gang linked to a Tallaght drugs trafficker.

However, Prenderville was snared after uniformed gardai noticed the stolen Audi A3 he was driving and arrested him before he could carry out the shooting.

The unarmed officers were lucky to escape injury after Prenderville rammed their car.

Sources say volatile Prenderville, who was 21 at the time, became even more erratic after he was jailed for five years in July, 2008 for threatening a garda while on bail for having cocaine worth more than ¿20,000.

When he was released, he started his own gun-for-hire business independently of the Crumlin/Drimnagh gangs.

At his sentencing hearing for the Rathfarnham firearms incident last July, Dublin Circuit Court heard Prenderville came under "significant pressure" after his release.

Prenderville, of Rutland Avenue, Crumlin, pleaded guilty to having a semi-automatic pistol, unlawful use of a car and dangerous driving at Daletree Place, Ballycullen, on September 6, 2012.

He has been in custody since that time and is serving four-and-a-half years for that offence.

Online Editors