Drogheda criminal Crosby gets 10 years for role in 'inhuman' Mulready-Woods murder

At the Special Criminal Court on 10 February 2023, Paul Crosby of Rathmullan Park, Drogheda, was sentenced to ten years imprisonment with the final six months suspended for two years, following his guilty plea to facilitating the murder of seventeen-year-old Keane Mulready-Woods. His co-accused Gerard Cruise, with addresses in Drogheda and Dublin, received seven-and-a-half years with the final six months suspended. Both men pleaded guilty to charges under Section 72 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 of assisting a criminal organisation in the killing, which occurred in January 2020. Mr Justice Tony Hunt described the treatment of the teenager's remains as "disgraceful and inhuman". Evidence established that Crosby arranged to meet the victim and travelled with Cruise to Rathmullan Park where the murder took place. The judge found Crosby held a higher level of involvement in the criminal organisation than Cruise. The court heard the chief suspect, Robert Lawlor, was subsequently shot dead in Belfast. The victim's mother provided a detailed impact statement to the court.