Jack Kavanagh, the offspring of a leading figure in the Kinahan criminal syndicate, has acknowledged his role in assisting his father to collate a stockpile of weaponry intended to hoodwink law enforcement. The 24-year-old, whose father is known as Thomas “Bomber” Kavanagh, was extradited to the UK recently. He was taken into custody in May 2023 at Malaga airport by Spanish National Police when he was travelling from Dubai to Turkey.
On the previous Friday, Kavanagh, hailing from Tamworth, offered a guilty plea via video link from Belmarsh Prison. He admitted to two charges related to the conspiracy to possess firearms and a further two charges concerning plans to acquire ammunition. Judge Philip Katz ordered that Kavanagh be kept in detention until his sentencing on December 4th.
Last month, Irish-born Thomas Kavanagh, aged 57, received a six-year custodial sentence for his lead role in the scheme. With aspirations to sway his sentencing in a case involving significant drug smuggling, the elder Kavanagh was hoping that unveiling a secret trove of 11 formidable weapons to the National Crime Agency (NCA) would be to his advantage.
From his prison seat, Thomas Kavanagh pulled strings in the scheme, with assistance from his son, his brother-in-law, Liam Byrne (44), and an accomplice, Shaun Kent (38), to mislead the NCA. Thomas Kavanagh tipped off the NCA in May 2021, which led them to a hidden stash in a field in Newry, Northern Ireland. Two bags were dug up at the site, containing seven machine guns, three automatic pistols, an assault rifle, and ammunition.
However, their plans were dashed after the NCA discovered incriminating communications stored in the encrypted application EncroChat, which French investigators managed to break into. Over an 18-month period from January 2020 to June 2021, the accused parties had conspired to accumulate as much weaponry as possible, sourced from the UK, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland.
Thomas Kavanagh, while serving a three-year penal term at HMP Dovegate for owning a stun gun, orchestrated a conspiracy from behind bars. Since March 2020, he had been held in custody awaiting trial for severe drug-related charges. These offences were tied to the illicit import of substantial quantities of cocaine and cannabis into the UK, leading to a prison verdict of 21 years in March 2022.
In September, Kavanagh, along with accomplices Byrne, a Dublin native, and Kent, originating from Liverpool, tendered guilty pleas to a dual count of conspiracy to own a banned armament and a pair of related ammunition charges spanning from January 9th, 2020 to June 3rd, 2021. Both Kavanagh and Kent also confessed to colluding with others to manipulate the justice process.
After the incident, Byrne absconded to Majorca and was later sentenced to a five-year stint in prison. Kent was assigned a longer, six-year incarceration. Kavanagh’s penalties will be served consecutively with his current sentence for his preceding crimes. – PA