A major money laundering and firearms trafficking probe is continuing into senior Kinahan cartel figure Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh after he was jailed in the UK for firearms offences.

The Dublin native was given a three-year sentence at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court yesterday after a modified pink stun gun was found in his “highly fortified” mansion this year.

It also emerged police received intelligence of a real and credible risk to his life last year.

Kavanagh (51), who has been named in the High Court as the leader of the Kinahan’s organised crime network in Birmingham, can expect to be out in 18 months and complete his sentence on licence.

However, he remains under investigation from specialist units in the UK and Ireland for a range of alleged offences including money laundering as well as drugs and firearms supply.

Speaking after yesterday’s sentencing hearing Peter Bellis, lead investigator for the National Crime Agency (NCA), said its wider investigation into the senior Kinahan associate continues.

Kavanagh, who has lived in the UK for 15 years, told arresting officers the stun gun had been brought by one of his sons during a school trip to China and that he had later confiscated it.

It was found during a search of his €850,000 home in Tamworth, Staffordshire, on January 12, on a shelf above some kitchen wall units.

The gated mansion in Sutton Road, Mile Oak, which had an Audi R8 Spyder parked on the driveway, was so well fortified – including being fitted with reinforced bulletproof glass – that it took officers longer than usual to force entry.

He was arrested in the international arrivals hall at Birmingham Airport the same day after getting off a plane following a family holiday to Mexico.

Kavanagh told officers he had taken the stun gun off one of the children when they were “messing about” with it and had thrown it on top of kitchen units.

He said another family member had taken the stun gun back to the house after buying it while on holiday.

Announcing the sentence, Judge Paul Glenn told him: “The law is quite clear – stun guns are prohibited weapons and prohibited weapons are firearms.”

The judge found there were “exceptional circumstances” to avoid handing Kavanagh the mandatory five-year term.

As details of the arsenal of legally held weaponry were read out in court, it emerged Kavanagh was given an “Osman” warning by police in 2018 – that there was intelligence of a real and immediate risk to his life.

Kavanagh previously admitted having a stun gun but denied possessing a device specifically designed to have the appearance of a torch. He was convicted by a jury after a three-day trial in July.

Judge Glenn said the father-of-six had a “significant criminal history” from 1985 until 2001, including dishonesty, violence and, in 1990, a firearms offence which led to a seven-year term in an Irish prison.

He added there had been “a significant gap” until he was handed a 16-month suspended sentence in 2017 for failing to declare taxable income and supplying fake payslips to secure a mortgage.

Source: Read Full Article