Cyril "Dublin Jimmy" McGuinness (1964/1965 - 8 November 2019) was an Irish convicted criminal with a record for

smuggling Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...

, illegal transport of waste and theft. He came from in Derrylin in

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 a ...

. He was 54 when he died.

Early life and family

He was originally from Cloughran in

Swords, Dublin Swords ( or ), the county town of Fingal, is a large suburban town on the east coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, situated ten kilometres north of Dublin city centre. The town was reputedly founded . Located on the Ward River (Ireland), Wa ...

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. As a teenager he worked in scrap metal and was known to Gardaí by the time he was 20. He had a brother, Francis, who was estranged from him. His brother is an articulated truck and car dealer.

Criminal history

He was banned from driving for 25 years in 1986 and jailed for six months after refusing to stop for Gardaí as they pursued his lorry through north

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

in 1984. After his conviction he was led from

Balbriggan Balbriggan (; , IPA: �bˠalʲəˈbʲɾʲɪɟiːnʲ is a coastal town in Fingal, in the northern part of County Dublin, Ireland, approximately 34 km from Dublin City. The 2016 census population was 21,722 for Balbriggan and its environs. ...

courthouse while handcuffed to a Garda. He shouted "bastard" at a Garda sergeant who had testified against him and "violently spat" in the sergeants' face. Although he was described as a Republican, Gardaí believed that his real motivation was money and that he had no political beliefs. He did supply vehicles to the

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...

and was heavily involved with paramilitaries in smuggling laundered fuel, alcohol and cigarettes, however. In 1986 he was also convicted of perjury after he asked another man to testify that McGuinness was a passenger - not the driver - in a lorry that was pursued by Gardaí in a separate chase. He was given a twelve-month suspended sentence for perjury. The Gardaí believed that in the 1980s he was seriously involved in handling stolen vehicles as well as smuggling them into Northern Ireland and Britain for resale. In 1992 he was arrested in

Dublin Airport Dublin Airport (Irish language, Irish: ''Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath'') is an international airport serving Dublin, Ireland. It is operated by DAA (Irish company), DAA (formerly Dublin Airport Authority). The airport is located in Collinsto ...

with four forged £20 notes. It took Gardaí three days to discover his real identity because he used up to 12 false identities at the time. Because he was uncooperative with Gardaí and had so many aliases he was remanded in custody for a month before pleading guilty to the charges in court. At the time of this conviction he had at least three addresses in north County Dublin and one in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He managed to secure a number of waste disposal contracts from local authorities in his twenties despite having a criminal record. These contracts included those for the disposal of

hazardous waste Hazardous waste is waste that has substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment. Hazardous waste is a type of dangerous goods. They usually have one or more of the following hazardous traits: ignitability, reactivity, co ...

. He used those contracts to engage in

fly tipping Illegal dumping, also called fly dumping or fly tipping ( UK), is the dumping of waste illegally instead of using an authorized method such as curbside collection or using an authorized rubbish dump. It is the illegal deposit of any waste onto l ...

. Investigations by the Gardaí led to him moving first to County Monaghan, then to

. In 2004 the

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland ( ga, BBC Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ''BBC Norlin Airlan'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ire ...

current affairs Current affairs may refer to: News * Current Affairs (magazine), ''Current Affairs'' (magazine) a bimonthly magazine of culture and politics. * Current affairs (news format): a genre of broadcast journalism * Current Affairs, former name for Behi ...

programme Spotlight exposed him as being involved in the illegal transportation of waste. In 2007, he pleaded guilty to 22 charges related to illegally transporting waste from the Republic of Ireland through

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and received a suspended sentence. There were a series of thefts of ATMs in Ireland around 2009 in which he and his gang were suspects. Twenty trucks and cranes were stolen in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and brought to Ireland. McGuinness was arrested in a Dublin court when he appeared in relation to charges of theft of an ATM. A European Arrest Warrant was issued for McGuinness in 2008 in which he was described as an active member of an Irish criminal organisation. In April 2008 he was stopped by Serbian police near the Croatian border. He was taken to Belgrade from where he was extradited to Bruges. While there, he was granted bail and left the country, though he was convicted when he was

tried in absentia Trial in absentia is a criminal proceeding in a court of law in which the person who is subject to it is not physically present at those proceedings. is Latin for "in (the) absence". Its meaning varies by jurisdiction and legal system. In comm ...

. He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment and was extradited back to Belgium in 2011 to serve his sentence.

Death

His death occurred after a police raid on his home in Fairfield, near Buxton, Derbyshire in November 2019. He was being investigated about the kidnapping of Kevin Lunney. The cause of death was reported to be a heart attack and the death is being investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct. The IOPC have verified that police were executing a warrant at his residence at the time he took ill, though they have said there was no evidence a taser was used.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGuinness, Cyril 1960s births 2019 deaths 20th-century Irish criminals 21st-century Irish criminals Criminals from Dublin (city) Criminals from Northern Ireland Irish male criminals People from Buxton People from Derrylin People from Swords, Dublin Place of birth missing Smugglers Year of birth uncertain