Brothers wept as they were sentenced to life in prison for 'ferocious' murder

Two brothers wept as they were sentenced to life imprisonment this morning for the murder of a gunman who shot at their home.

Brothers wept as they were sentenced to life in prison for 'ferocious' murder

By Eoin Reynolds

Two brothers wept as they were sentenced to life imprisonment this morning for the murder of a gunman who shot at their home.

A third brother, who was acquitted of murder by the trial judge and pleaded guilty to impeding the investigation of a crime, will be sentenced at the end of this month.

Jason Bradley (20) and Dean Bradley (24) of Liscarne Gardens, Dublin 22 were found guilty last week of the murder of 36-year-old Neil Reilly at Esker Glebe in Lucan, Dublin on January 18, 2017.

Ryan Bradley pleaded guilty to impeding the investigation into Mr Reilly's death.

The boys' father Paul Bradley was found not guilty of murder by the jury last week.

During the trial it emerged that Jason Bradley inflicted seven chop wounds with a sharp weapon on Mr Reilly before Dean Bradley drove over him.

Two witnesses saw him drive over Mr Reilly twice while another said she saw the car go over him three times.

At a sentence hearing in the Central Criminal Court Justice Paul Coffey said there is only one penalty to be imposed for murder and sentenced Jason and Dean to imprisonment for life.

He had earlier heard from Michael Bowman SC on their behalf who said both men wished to apologise for what happened to Neil Reilly.

Mr Bowman said that the boys' mother had also penned a letter to the court apologising to Mr Reilly's family for the pain and loss they suffered.

She added: "We are so full of remorse".

Mr Reilly's family wrote an impact statement which was read by prosecuting counsel Paul Murray SC.

They said they were left frozen, in total disbelief, unable to understand what was happening, when Neil's son Dean rang his grandmother Marian and told her: "Neil is dead, the Bradleys killed him."

Dean Reilly, Neil Reilly's son. Pic: Courtpix
Dean Reilly, Neil Reilly's son. Pic: Courtpix

A father-of-two, his children will grow up without their dad at the important moments in their lives, their birthdays, weddings, the births of their own children.

They think of their dad every day and are serving a life sentence of their own.

Neil got engaged on Christmas morning, less than one month before his "savage, barbaric, brutal murder".

On the day she was due to celebrate their engagement party, Neil's fiancee attended his funeral. His death has left her numbed and broken, the court heard.

The family said that the price for murder is a life sentence and they pray that verdicts such as these will lessen the murder rate in Ireland.

They went on to thank gardaí, their friends and neighbours, the jury and the "courageous, brave witnesses" who gave evidence in the trial.

Speaking on behalf of Ryan Bradley, Caroline Biggs SC told Justice Coffey that Ryan is a hard-working man who is a vital part of his father's mechanic business.

Throughout the trial, she said, he would attend court and then go to work.

On the day he was acquitted of murder, he arrived at work within one hour of being told he could leave court.

Ms Biggs read several references from garage owners in Dublin who said Ryan is hard-working and skillful and they would not hesitate to give him a job if he needed it.

Ryan Bradley
Ryan Bradley

A community worker who works with young offenders said the acts he committed on the day were out of character.

Ms Biggs also pointed out that her client is close to his two brothers, his best friends, and has now lost them as a result of their convictions for murder.

She pointed out that he was 17 at the time and, if he had been charged with impeding an investigation rather than murder, he probably would have been dealt with as a minor.

She told Justice Coffey that Ryan was not involved in any way in the feud with Neil Reilly yet he is suffering as a result of it.

There is no evidence he will likely offend again and he has no previous convictions.

The court heard that Ryan impeded the investigation by assisting his brother Dean in exchanging a car Dean had used to drive over the deceased.

He also lied to gardaí in a voluntary statement he gave on the day in which he denied any knowledge of what happened to Mr Reilly.

Justice Coffey said he wished to consider Ryan's sentence and remanded him on bail until July 31.

Evidence in trial

The court heard that the Bradleys got to know Neil Reilly through his son Dean.

Dean became best friends with Ryan and Jason and when his father went to prison for drug dealing Dean became a regular visitor to the Bradley household.

He was welcomed in, he regularly ate dinner there and got to know the whole family.

When his dad was soon to get out of prison Dean asked Paul Bradley if he would give his dad a job at the Bradley garage on the Naas Road.

Paul agreed and Neil worked as a mechanic for him for a short time.

But, according to Dean's evidence, Jason amassed a debt of €9,000 to Neil Reilly for what the witness said could have been a drug debt.

On one occasion Neil called to the hotel where Jason worked, "to put a word on him" in Dean's words.

In December 2016, Reilly broke into the Bradley home armed with a garden shears.

CCTV cameras inside the house showed him entering with two other men and going directly upstairs where he switched the CCTV system off.

They ransacked the house and stole Paul Bradley's passport.

Forensic investigators at the scene in January 2017
Forensic investigators at the scene in January 2017

That was about one month before Neil Reilly planned and carried out his attack on the Bradley home.

He drove to Liscarne Gardens in a white van followed by an accomplice in a Mazda.

He fired two shots that hit the house, smashing one of the front windows.

Reilly drove off in the white van and after a short distance he abandoned the van, threw the gun over a garden wall and got into the Mazda.

Meanwhile, Dean Bradley was driving around the area in his BMW with then 17-year-old Ryan as his passenger.

Paul Bradley was in his SUV with Jason.

After some minutes CCTV shows that Paul Bradley had turned towards home and called gardaí to report that shots had been fired at his house.

By chance, at that moment he passed the Mazda with Neil Reilly in the passenger seat.

Jason recognised the driver and can be heard on the 999 call telling his dad: "Go after them in that car," and, "Put up that phone and go after them. Go after them."

CCTV footage showed Paul Bradley's jeep chasing the Mazda at speed towards Esker Glebe where, Paul Bradley revealed during the trial, the Mazda crashed.

Paul Bradley
Paul Bradley

The Bradley jeep crashed into the now stationary Mazda, spinning it so that it faced the wrong direction on the road.

Both Jason and Paul got out while Reilly's accomplice escaped on foot. Reilly and Jason fought. In the struggle Jason suffered a deep cut to his hand which would later require medical treatment.

But he overpowered Neil Reilly and used a sharp weapon to beat him to death.

Two blows to his head caused skull fractures and lacerations to the brain.

A pathologist would later find seven chop wounds in total, all of them severe and potentially fatal.

The weapon has not been found.

As Reilly lay in the road Dean Bradley's BMW arrived on the scene.

He drove over Neil Reilly, causing crush injuries to the pelvis that the pathologist said could have been fatal on their own and contributed to death.

While Dean claimed this was an accident, caused by his poor eyesight, one witnesses said she saw his car reverse and then drive forward over Reilly a second time.

Another witness said he wasn't 100% sure, but he thought it reversed and then drove over him a second time while a third, Danielle Cusack said Dean's BMW struck and ran over Reilly three times.

In Dean Bradley's defence, his lawyer argued that he ran over the deceased by accident and should be either acquitted or convicted of manslaughter if the jury decided that his driving was grossly negligent.

Jason Bradley's counsel argued that he should be found guilty of manslaughter and not murder as he was so provoked by Reilly's intimidation tactics and the shooting that he had lost all self control when he inflicted the fatal blows.

Ryan was acquitted on the murder charge by the trial judge on the basis that there was no evidence he got out of Dean Bradley's car or took any part in the assault on Neil Reilly.

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