Irish man charged with murder of gangland figure Robbie Lawlor in Belfast

A 41-year-old man arrested in Liverpool has been charged with the 2020 murder of Drogheda feud criminal Robbie Lawlor in Belfast's Ardoyne area.

Man charged over Ardoyne ambush killing of Robbie Lawlor

A 41-year-old man has been charged with the murder of gangland figure Robbie Lawlor, more than six years after Lawlor was shot dead in a pre-planned ambush in Belfast, the Irish Times reports.

The man was arrested in Liverpool by Merseyside Police on Wednesday and subsequently transferred to Belfast for questioning by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). He was charged on Thursday evening and is also facing a count of possession of a firearm or ammunition with intent to endanger life. He is due to appear before Belfast Magistrates' Court on Friday morning.

Lawlor, a 36-year-old Dubliner, was killed on 4 April 2020 in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast. He had travelled there to collect a drugs debt when he was shot dead by a gunman lying in wait. A number of other men have previously been arrested and some face charges in connection with the killing.

Originally from Dublin's northside, Lawlor had an address in Laytown, Co Meath, and was regarded as one of the most dangerous figures involved in a violent feud between two rival drugs gangs based largely in Drogheda. Gardaí and the PSNI believe his murder was arranged by associates who stood to gain financially from his death — money owed to Lawlor for drugs would not need to be repaid if he was dead.

His brother-in-law Richard Carberry (39) had been shot dead in November 2019 outside his family home in Bettystown, Co Meath, in a separate attack linked to the same feud. At the time of Carberry's killing, Lawlor was in prison awaiting trial on a separate shooting charge. Both men had left Dublin and were heavily involved in the drugs trade across Louth and Meath — Carberry operating as a criminal manager, Lawlor as an enforcer.

Lawlor also emerged as a prime suspect in the murder of Drogheda teenager Keane Mulready-Woods (17), who went missing from the Co Louth town in early 2020 before being murdered and dismembered.

Source: Irish Times