Malcolm McKeown: Judge urged to jail men guilty of gangland murder to 20 years without parole

The 54-year-old was gunned down in the back of a car park just 12 days after he was released from prison

A judge was urged today to send two men to prison for a minimum of 20 years without parole for the murder of convicted criminal Malcolm McKeown to reflect society’s revulsion at the “scourge of gangland violence”.

In June this year Jake O’Brien, 31, and Andrew Thomas Kenneth Martin, 30, were found guilty at Belfast Crown Court of the “carefully planned and brutal assassination” of McKeown in 2016.

The pair were also found guilty of possession of two guns used to murder the 54-year-old at close range.

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Two other defendants, Stevie Lee Watson, 36, from Princeton Avenue in Lurgan, Co Armagh and 36-year old Simon Smyth, from Hazelgrove Avenue in Lurgan, were both acquitted of the murder and possessing the guns with intent to endanger life.

All four defendants had been on trial before a judge sitting without a jury last year and had denied both offences. None of them gave evidence at their trial.

McKeown was sitting in his silver BMW at the back of Dewart’s service station on Main Street in Waringstown on Monday, August 19, 2019, when two gunmen approached. He had bought the car the weekend before his murder had only been released from prison 12 days earlier.

A postmortem examination concluded that death was caused by bullet wounds to the head and torso and McKeown had been “struck by at least six bullets”.

In his lengthy ruling in June, trial judge Mr Justice Fowler described the murder of McKeown as a “carefully planned and brutal assassination”.

He told Martin, of Bridge Street in Banbridge, Co Down, that there were “strong strands of circumstantial evidence” linking him to the murder.

“I am of the view that he was one of the gunmen who shot and executed Mr McKeown and I am sure that he is one of the gunmen who shot Mr McKeown,” said Mr Justice Fowler.

“He had already pleaded guilty to murder as an aider and abetter but I find him guilty of the murder as a principal.”

Martin was also found guilty of possessing firearms.

Turning to O’Brien, of Rectory Road, Lurgan, Mr Justice Fowler said: “I am sure that he was involved in this brutal assassination of Mr McKeown.

“Accordingly, I find him guilty of the deceased’s murder as a principal and I am also sure he is guilty of the firearms offence.”

Both men were handed automatic life sentences and were told they would at a later date how long they would spend in custody before they were eligible to apply to be released on licence by the Parole Commissioners.

During a tariff hearing today, a senior prosecutor told Mr Justice Fowler that the murder of McKeown put the case in a higher starting point of “20 years and upwards” as the culpability of the defendants was “exceptionally high”.

He said the murder “bore all the hallmarks of a gangland assassination” which was carried out in public and in broad daylight.

“It is our submission that this is a case where societal changes are such that this court should recognise the scourge of gangland violence and this can be taken into acount in that context,” said the senior KC prosecutor.

“Low culpability in murders is a rare commodity but in this case we say there is exceptionally high culpability which put this case at the starting point of 20 years.”

He confirmed to the court that the “scourge of gangland violence” in Northern Ireland put the case at a starting point of “20 years and up to 30 years”.

Outlining the aggravating features, he told the court: “It was planned. Logistics had to be carefully planned over an extended period of time. The actions on the day, the acquisition of firearms and ammunition and the cars to be used. One of those cars was used for the murder. There were cars used before the murder.

“There was a car used as a getaway and there was a car, a Volkswagen Golf, that was never recovered. There was the destruction of those vehicles and the disposal of the weapons.

“The clothing worn, the destruction of the phones and all of those elements required planning. In this case two firearms were used and multiple rounds were fired. Those firearms have never been recovered.”

Describing McKeown as “vulnerable” at the time of the shooting, the senior prosecutor told the judge: “He was ambushed, he had no chance and multiple rounds were put into him causing massive internal damage.”

In a victim impact statement, Kirsty McKeown, the daughter of the deceased, wrote: “This is only telling you the surface of my pain and how it has changed me.

“I don’t think I will ever be able to express it completely because there are no words that can express it. People will never understand unless they go through it themselves. Nothing will compare to the life sentence they have imposed upon me and my family.

“I have nothing else to say. Even writing this has taken a chunk out of me,” she added.

Defence lawyers for Martin and O’Brien rejected prosecution submissions that the court should take the higher starting point of 20 years before considering aggravating and mitigating factors in the case.

They told Mr Justice Fowler that he should take his starting point at 15 years before making any adjustments. Defence counsel David Ivers KC said O’Brien has already lodged papers to appeal his murder conviction.

Mr Justice Fowler said he would give his tariff ruling on October 6, 2025.

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