Two brothers have been found guilty of murdering a man who fired a gun at their home.
Dean Bradley (24) and Jason Bradley (20) were convicted of murdering Neil Reilly (36) at Esker Glebe in Lucan, Dublin on January 18th, 2017, by a unanimous jury verdict following more than nine hours of deliberations.
Members of the Bradley family, including a third brother Ryan (18), who was acquitted of the murder charge earlier in the trial, cried when the verdicts were read out.
Their father Paul Bradley (54), who was acquitted of murdering Mr Reilly, consoled his sons as Mr Justice Paul Coffey refused bail and remanded them in custody until a sentencing hearing next Wednesday, when Mr Reilly’s family will be given an opportunity to address the court.
Dean and Jason Bradley, of Liscarne Gardens, Dublin 22, face mandatory life sentences following the murder conviction.
Ryan Bradley will also have a sentence hearing next Wednesday, having pleaded guilty to impeding the investigation into Mr Reilly’s death following his acquittal on the murder charge.
Prison
The court heard that the Bradleys got to know Mr Reilly through his son Dean, who became best friends with Ryan and Jason Bradley when his father went to prison for drug dealing .
When his Mr Reilly was due to be released, his son asked Paul Bradley if he would give his father a job at the Bradley’s garage. He agreed and Mr Reilly worked with him as a mechanic for a period.
According to Dean Bradley’s evidence, Jason had amassed a debt of €9,000 to Mr Reilly, who he said became threatening when demanding repayment.
The court heard that in December 2016, Mr Reilly broke into the Bradley home armed with a garden shears. He and two other men ransacked the house and stole Paul Bradley’s passport.
About a month later, Mr Reilly drove to the Bradley’s home in a van followed by an accomplice in a Mazda. He fired two shots that hit the house, smashing one of the front windows. He left in the van and then abandoned the vehicle, threw the gun over a garden wall and got into the Mazda.
Meanwhile, Dean Bradley was driving around the area with Ryan Bradley as his passenger. Paul Bradley was in his vehicle with Jason and turned towards home and called gardaí to report that shots had been fired at his house.
‘Go after them’
By chance, they passed the Mazda Mr Reilly was travelling in. Jason recognised the driver and can be heard on the 999 call telling his father: “Go after them in that car”.
CCTV footage showed Paul Bradley’s jeep chasing the Mazda at speed towards Esker Glebe where, the Mazda crashed.
Jason and Paul got out while Mr Reilly’s accomplice escaped on foot. Mr Reilly and Jason fought and he overpowered Mr 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 later found seven chop wounds in total, all of them severe and potentially fatal. The weapon has not been found.
As Mr Reilly lay in the road Dean Bradley arrived on the scene and drove over him, causing crush injuries to the pelvis which the pathologist said could have been fatal on their own. 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 Mr Reilly a second time.