Car dealer who professed innocence to Sunday World named as leader of gang selling stolen vehicles

Edward ‘Sonny’ Stokes protested his innocence when approached by the Sunday World in 2016 after his Co Longford car business was raided by armed gardaí.

But he has now been named as the leader of an organised crime gang involved in running ‘chop shops’ handling vehicles stolen in the UK.

His role as leader of the gang between 2014 and 2020 was revealed as part of the CAB case against his nephew Edward ‘Blondie’ Stokes last month.

CAB’s Chief Officer Michael Gubbins in his evidence stated: “The Stokes OCG were heavily involved in criminal activity in the form of handling stolen vehicles and stolen vehicle cars, and other motor trade related fraud including the clocking and resale of legitimately purchased vehicles and laundering the funds derived from these activities.”

“Members of this OCG are also heavily involved in feuding activity, violence and intimidation of the communities in which they reside.”

Gardaí had targeted the gang a number of times carrying raids at different locations suspected of being used by the gang.

This included the discovery in November 2018 of two ‘chop-shops’ in Edgeworthstown and Shroid in Co Longford.

Officers found stolen plant machinery, vehicle and vehicle parts at two industrial units worth €670,000 much of which was traced back to the UK.

Garda had previously raided a yard in Granard from where ‘Sonny’ Stokes was operating in early 2016.

When asked about the raid at the time ‘Sonny’ Stokes blamed jealous rivals for encouraging the gardaí to target him.

“Without a doubt I think someone contacted the gardaí because I was giving customers a better deal than other garages.”

“A couple of grand cheaper with no overheads, you bring them in from England clean them up and put them on the front line and take a small cut on them. I would imagine that’s it I can’t think of any other reason.”

“That day was embarrassing because when they came here there was two guys standing out there at the gate armed with submachine guns.”

“And there were patrol cars with blue flashing lights, people driving past would have thought there was a shooting.”

“I had to go down to them and say do you think this lad here (pointing his young child) is going to pull a gun and shoot you? They put them away after that.”

It was also part of the evidence int eh recent CAB case that ‘Sonny’ and ‘Blondie’ Stokes “acted in concert when committing offences.”

In one case he went into a pub in Granard in October 2018 with his nephew and “subjected a male to a horrific beating” for which ‘Blondie’ stokes is new serving a seven-year prison sentence.

Judge Alex Owens ruled last month that that ‘Blondie’ Stokes’ Longford house as well as a car and cash in credit union account were the proceeds of crime.

He said there was no explanation for the source of money spent on the extensive renovations on the Longford property which did not “look like much from the outside.”

He said the bar, in his view, was “a very well-appointed den” that took “considerable resources” showed “a degree of taste” and was not “done on the cheap.”

It was also heard Stokes had spent €28,800 in a month on two Rolex watches bought from Weir’s in Dublin which have since disappeared.

Blondie and his wife Sharon were targeted by CAB in which €72,000 in credit union accounts, their house and a Ford Focus were declared the proceeds of crime.

The judge said the evidence from CAB that Stokes is involved in crime was reasonable and backed up by the financial evidence put to the court.