Hutch gangster James ‘Mago’ Gately’s home declared proceeds of crime in High Court

Gately and his partner Charlene Lam’s ‘exotic’ lifestyle were also funded by criminal cash, according to Judge Alex Owens.

The Criminal Assets Bureau had argued Gately was a key figure in the Hutch organised crime gang which is involved in armed robbery and the importation of drugs.

Judge Owens said that he found the house at Glin Drive in Coolock, North Dublin was initially financed with the proceeds of crime and then refurbished to a very high standard.

It was previously heard Gately had doubled the size of his Coolock house spending €440,000 on building a two-storey extension at the back of the house bought for €125,000.

Between 2013 and 2019, the couple lived a lifestyle “entirely subsided” by criminal cash and were almost never in the State between cruises they took to Asia and the Caribbean.

Analysis of their bank accounts found they had access to large sums of cash.

A car, a Rolex watch and the house were all declared proceeds of crime but Judge Owens did not make a final order.

He said that €6,500 from a compensation claim by Ms Lam used to make mortgage payments should be deduced from any future sale.

He also asked for evidence to show any mortgage payments from 2019 were the proceeds and adjourned he case.

A receiver was given the power of sale over the car and Rolex.

Outlining Gately’s criminal background counsel for CAB previously said evidence from officers was that he was part of a gang involved in armed robbery and the importation of drugs.

He had been regarded as part of the Kinahan Organised Crime Gang until the murder of Gary Hutch which sparked the lethal Hutch/Kinahan feud.

Gately had also been arrested over a tiger-robbery and a post office heist, according to CAB.

Evidence from CAB also linked Gately to three murders two of which were in 2010 when he was just 24 years old.

He was arrested and questioned over the killing of convicted criminal Aidan Byrne in Dublin 7, a killing for which Jonathon ‘Yuka’ Douglas has been convicted and sentenced to life.

Gately was also linked by CAB to the killing of infamous gangland figure Eamon ‘The Don’ Dunne at a pub in Cabra in April 2010.

The third murder was that of David Byrne in the attack on the Regency Hotel organised by the Hutch gang.

It was pointed out that such was his importance to the Hutch the gang that he was shot in an assassination bid just a month after Estonian hitman Imre Arakas was arrested in a plot to kill Gately.

The judgement today came after two years of legal wrangles delayed by an application for free legal aid and then the difficulty in finding a forensic accountant and surveyor to write a report.

Judge Owens said today it was “spun out” for two years longer than it should have been.