A man described as “middle management” in a drug operation that involved over €3.18 million worth of cannabis and cocaine has been jailed for seven years.
Philip Lawless (48) of River Forest, Leixlip, Co Kildare, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of the drugs for sale or supply at two separate locations in Dublin on April 3rd, 2024 last. He has minor convictions for speeding and a parking fine.
Garda Tara Higgins told Antonia Boyle BL, prosecuting, that gardaí had the movements of a number of individuals and vehicles under observation last April and spotted Lawless in the company of two other men at Lidl in Tallaght, Dublin 24.
Lawless left the carpark in a black BMW in the company of one man, while a third man left in a white van. The man in the van drove to a self storage unit in Ballymount in Tallaght before he entered the unit and left again a few minutes later.
Gardaí followed him to a meeting point with Lawless and the other man on the Belgard Road in Tallaght before the two vehicles continued in convoy. The driver of the white van ultimately stopped on Beresford Street, Dublin 7.
At that point the van was searched and 10 vacuum pack bags of cannabis, worth an estimated €198,332, were discovered.
Gardaí then returned to the storage unit and while carrying out a search in that general area, Lawless arrived in a white transit van. He had a number of keys on him, one of which unlocked a unit there.
A follow up search of that unit led to the discovery of further quantity of drugs including €2,281,176 worth of cannabis, €5,772 worth of cannabis resin and €694,858 worth of cocaine.
Lawless was arrested and interviewed but nothing of evidential value to the investigation came out of those interviews.
The phones of all three men were later analysed and it was clear from that that Lawless was directing the activity of the other two men, one of whom had Lawlor’s number saved in his phone as “boss man”.
Gda Higgins said that phone analysis also concluded that Lawless had been using a particular app to send messages, which deleted messages from the phone within eight hours of sending.
The garda also said that it was clear from the phones that Lawless was receiving instructions from someone else. He would then screenshot these instructions and forward them to one of the other men.
Gda Higgins said that Lawless was also the leaseholder of the unit and CCTV footage from the area showed Lawless and one of the other men taking boxes into and out of the storage unit on the day before their apprehension by gardaí.
Gda Higgins agreed with Seamus Clarke SC, defending, that his client was “a middle man in charge of directing other people” regarding the delivery of the drugs but that a person was directing Lawless and that this person was unknown and was “further up the chain” than Lawless.
She also acknowledged that Lawless had a cocaine problem at the time himself and that his plea was valuable to the prosecution of the case.
Mr Clarke said his client is now clear of drugs and handed in a number of testimonials to the court.
He said Lawless is a father of four and a grandfather of one young boy.
Counsel said his client is doing well in prison. He asked the court to accept that he was not the owner of the drugs and there is “no evidence of any kind of lavish lifestyle”.
Mr Clarke said it was a “tragic situation” and his client is extremely remorseful and is aware of how he has made life difficult for his family now.
Judge Dara Hayes said Lawless was clearly in “middle management” in this operation and had “a directing role”.
He acknowledged that he is doing well in prison and no longer abuses cocaine. He also noted the various testimonials before the court that outlined how heartbroken Lawless’s family are that he got involved in this offence.
Judge Hayes accepted that Lawless is a good family man with many positive attributes but he said he involved himself in very serious criminality.
He accepted that Lawless’s remorse is genuine and that he himself says that he got involved in this operation because he had amassed a drug debt due to his own addiction.
“It is clear that he occupied a position of considerable trust in what was a significant drug dealing operation and an operation engaged in serious criminality,” Judge Hayes said.
Judge Hayes said the case warranted a headline sentence of 12 and half years before he imposed a sentence of eight and a half years.
He suspended the final 18 months of the sentence in order to encourage Lawless to return to a law abiding lifestyle, to encourage his rehabilitation from drug addiction and to encourage his re-integration back into society.
Lawless is to engage with the Probation Service for 18 months upon his ultimate release from prison.
