Notorious criminal sues prison authorities for failing to protect him from Kinahan gang

Alan Wilson claims he repeatedly complained he was under threat from the gang before 2019 knife attack

In June 2019, while serving a previous sentence in Mountjoy Prison, Alan Wilson was drugged with Olanzapine before being attacked with Stanley knives by several other prisoners, court documents state. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins
In June 2019, while serving a previous sentence in Mountjoy Prison, Alan Wilson was drugged with Olanzapine before being attacked with Stanley knives by several other prisoners, court documents state. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins

A notorious gangland criminal is suing the Irish Prison Service (IPS) for failing to keep him safe from the Kinahan organised crime group.

Alan Wilson was once a close associate of the Kinahan gang and was involved in a 2017 plot by the group to murder Dublin criminal Gary Hanley as part of the Hutch-Kinahan feud.

However the 43-year-old has since fallen out with the gang and has been the subject of several attacks by its associates in prison.

Wilson is currently serving a 10-year sentence imposed last year for his role in a plot to murder three men outside the Player’s Lounge pub in 2010.

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In June 2019, while serving a previous sentence in Mountjoy Prison, Wilson was drugged with Olanzapine before being attacked with Stanley knives by several other prisoners, court documents state.

In a High Court case lodged earlier this month, Wilson claims he was subject to assaults and threats from when he first entered Mountjoy in 2017. He claims he repeatedly told prison officials he was under threat from the Kinahan gang.

He says he requested a transfer to the Midlands Prison, which houses far fewer members of the gang, but that this was denied. Wilson says he informed prison authorities that the Kinahan gang had a “bounty” out, offering €20,000 for cutting or assaulting him and €100,000 for murdering him.

He claims there was also “inflammatory graffiti” around the prison concerning him, and that B Landing was “notorious for the number of blades and razors retained by inmates there as contraband”, despite being a protection landing for prisoners under threat.

Wilson claims he woke up two days after the June 2019 attack covered in bandages and was told by a prison officer what happened. He was left with a 15cm scar to one side of his face and a 5cm scar on the other. He initially refused wound management treatment but later consented.

Wilson, who is represented by Mulholland Law, is suing the IPS and the governor of Mountjoy Prison on 24 grounds including that authorities failed in their “duty of care” towards him by not putting in appropriate safeguards against attack by the Kinahan gang.

He is also claiming damages based on claims the IPS failed to manage the possession of knives in the B Division basement area of the Prison.

A summons has been issued on the IPS and the case is expected to be heard next year under the High Court personal injuries list. Prison authorities have yet to enter a defence.

Wilson has since been moved to the Midlands Prison, where he remains under protection. It is understood he remains under threat from multiple criminal groups, including the Kinahan and Hutch gangs.

As well as his involvement in the Hanley and Players Lounge plots, Wilson has been a suspect in multiple other murder investigations over the years. In 2014, he went on trial for the murder of Marioara Rostas, an 18-year-old Romanian woman who disappeared from Dublin city centre in 2008. Wilson was acquitted and the murder remains unsolved.

Conor Gallagher

Conor Gallagher

Conor Gallagher is Crime and Security Correspondent of The Irish Times