The wife of a notoriously violent Irish crime boss is hoping she can reclaim hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of luxury goods.
Joanne Byrne, 50, lives in a £1m palatial mansion in Staffordshire, that could quite easily be mistaken for the family pile of a Premier League footballer.
But Joanne is no ordinary WAG – in fact she is married to Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh a boss of one of the most notorious gangs in the world – The Kinahan Organised Crime Group (KOCG) known as the ‘Kinahan Cartel’.
Kavanagh, 56, is the UK chief of the Kinahans – a global drugs organisation that reaches out from Ireland and the UK to Dubai with links to deadly cartels in South America.
But Joanne’s family connections to the cartel go beyond just her husband.
She is also the sister of murdered Kinahan’s gangster David Byrne, 33, jailed KOCG criminal Liam Byrne, 44, and the cousin of convicted murderer ‘Fat Freddie’ Thompson, 44.
Although Joanne is not believed to be a criminal herself, she is thought to have enjoyed the riches of her family’s crime empire the Byrne Organised Crime Group – as well as shared in the tragedy of the bloody Hutch-Kinahan feud that has claimed the lives of 18 people.
Her brother David was shot dead at Dublin’s Regency Hotel in 2016, a murder that sparked the bloodiest year of the Hutch-Kinahan feud, with ten people killed.
The intended target is believed to have been suspected mob boss and boxing promoter Daniel Kinahan, who used to represent ‘The Gypsy King’ Tyson Fury, as revenge for the murder of Gary Hutch, who was thought to be a police informant, although this was posthumously found to be a false allegation.
These days, Joanne is thought to be still living in her and her husband’s £1million Staffordshire ‘luxury fortified mansion’ set with bulletproof glass and reinforced doors that police raided in 2019.
During that bust, they seized £500k of luxury gear including 120 designer handbags, 120 sets of designer heels, 36 pairs of Armani jeans and £40k of cash that was stuffed down the back of a sofa – as well as a slew of weapons.
While there is no suggestion she was involved in or knew about her husband’s criminal activities, she faces losing her collection of designer clothes and accessories as well as her and ‘Bomber’s’ plush gated pad in an assets battle with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Joanne comes from fearsome stock. While there is also no suggestion she knew about or was involved in her family’s crime syndicate, her gangster brothers, father, cousin and husband had ties to some of Ireland’s most violent gangs – including both the Kinahans and the Hutch Organised Crime Group (HOCG), known as the Hutch Family.
Joanne Byrne, 50, is the wife of Irish crime boss Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh
She faces a battle over £500,000 worth of luxury goods seized from her and Kavangh’s home by the National Crime Agency
Pictured: Her and Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh’s £1million fortified mansion in Staffordshire set with bulletproof glass and reinforced doors
Her husband Thomas Kavanagh, 56, (pictured) has already been jailed for 21 years but faces more for a failed ruse to trick the courts into decreasing his sentence
Joanne (left, at her father’s funeral in September) was Kavanagh’s teenage sweetheart. Carmela Soprano (right) was the wife of mafia boss Tony Soprano on fictional show The Sopranos
Earlier this year, she was pictured laying flowers at the Regency Hotel in Dublin, where he gangster brother was shot dead
Wearing a designer jacket, she tied a bunch of flowers to a pole outside the scene of the 2016 shooting
Mourners including Joanne Byrne follow the coffin of James ‘Jaws’ Byrne on September 13, 2024
At the height of the Hutch-Kinahan feud, in 2016, gunmen wielding AK-47 rifles and dressed as riot police burst into the lobby of the Regency Hotel in Dublin and opened fire – narrowly missing Daniel Kinahan but killing associate David Byrne
David Byrne’s body is pictured in the lobby of the hotel after he was cut down by machine gun fire. He was the brother of Liam Byrne, one of the Kinahan Cartel’s most senior members
Gerry Hutch was acquitted after a 52-day trial at Ireland’s Special Criminal Court, found not guilty of the Regency Hotel murder of David Byrne. Pictured: A six man team leave the hotel after Byrne was shot six times in reception. Hutch was accused of hiring the team of assassins but found not guilty
Little is known about Joanne and she is rarely pictured. She was born in November 1973 to parents James ‘Jaws’ Byrne and Sadie Byrne, and has five siblings.
‘Jaws’, who passed away aged 76 earlier this year, was an armed robber with links to crime boss Martin ‘The General’ Cahill.
Cahill was killed in 1994 when a gunman, allegedly from the Provisional IRA, shot him multiple times in the face and upper torso.
Joanne’s father lived in Dublin’s Raleigh Square, a cul de sac that became the Byrne Organised Crime Group’s stronghold, with Joanne’s gangster brothers Liam and David both living down the road as well as senior member Sean McGovern.
In 2018, the Irish High Court found that ‘Jaws’, his wife Sadie, daughter Maria and three others ‘while not members of the Byrne organised crime group, are closely related to its members and involved in money laundering’… and ‘have access to the proceeds of criminal activity carried out by the Byrne organised crime group.’
‘Jaws’ was also a long-time friend of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch – the godfather of the Hutch Family.
‘The Monk’ earned his nickname because he abstained from booze, drugs and smoking.
Before the start of their bloody gangland feud, the Kinahans and Hutches got on well and worked together alongside the Byrne Organised Crime Group.
Kinahan godfather Christy ‘The Dapper Don’ Kinahan Snr grew up in a middle-class family and Irish police – the Garda – first became aware of him around the time he started working with ‘The Monk’s’ older brother Eddie, reportedly robbing delivery vans and warehouses.
Gary Hutch – whose murder sparked the deadly feud between the two Dublin families – even had a close friendship with suspected crime boss Daniel Kinahan, 47.
Meanwhile, Joanne’s brother Liam Byrne, 44, was just a few years younger than Daniel and before long became an integral part of the Kinahan operation.
His rise within the Kinahan Cartel helped his sister’s husband ‘Bomber’, who also started to climb within the KOCG.
Meanwhile, Joanne’s cousin, ‘Fat Freddie’ Thompson, took over the running of the Kinahan Cartel in Dublin after Christy ‘The Dapper Don’ Kinahan Snr was jailed in 1997.
‘Fat Freddie’ had known both the Hutches and the Kinahans and was later embroiled in the feud between the families.
In 2016, he shot dead zookeeper-turned-criminal David Douglas, who had links to the Hutch gang, and was jailed for life for murder in 2018.
Closer to home, Joanne’s father ‘Jaws’ was even seen enjoying a trip in Lanzarote with ‘The Monk’ alongside his wife Sadie at the same time as his sons were working with the Kinahans.
But despite a closeness with the Hutches, the Byrnes’ relationship fell apart when feared Kinahan enforcer Liam Byrne was murdered in 2016, allegedly as revenge for the killing of Gary Hutch.
The Kinahans retaliated and the feud escalated. Daniel Kinahan was spotted at David Byrne’s funeral, and the two crime families grew ever closer.
Joanne’s husband Thomas Kavanagh, 56, (pictured) rose through the ranks of the Kinahan Cartel, helped by his association with Joanne’s brother Liam Byrne
Pictured: Gardai and a National Crime Agency officer outside Joanne Byrne and Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh’s house
A raid of his Staffordshire mansion found wads of cash stuffed down the back of a sofa
A total of £40,000 in cash was found down the back of this golden sofa
Weapons including baseball bats, knives, swords and even an axe were found in the mansion
Kavanagh was part of a ruse of leading police to a cache of weapons (pictured)
He hoped his sentenced would be decreased if he gave the location of the planted weapons to police
Yet police found out the plan and now he faces even longer in jail. He is due to be sentenced on October 21 and 22
The Irish High Court once said Joanne’s husband ‘Bomber’ was ‘at the top of the tree’ of the Kinahan Cartel.
But in 2022 he was sentenced to 21 years in HMP Belmarsh for conspiring to import £36million of drugs into the UK.
He now faces even more time in jail for his part in a ruse to lead police to a stash of weapons that were actually planted there for him to give up in exchange for a lesser sentence.
As a youngster, he was Joanne’s teenage sweetheart. Kavanagh was a drug dealer and reportedly ran a business with his cousin Gerard ‘Hatchet’ Kavanagh, a former boxer who became a senior member of the Kinahan Cartel and was later shot dead near Marbella in Spain in 2014.
Thomas Kavanagh also rose through the ranks of the Kinahan Cartel, helped by his association with Joanne’s brother Liam Byrne and his reputation as a violent thug.
An ex-detective told the Irish Mirror: ‘Kavanagh was feared because of his tendency for violence. He was highly volatile.’
Joanne has at least one son with Kavanagh called Jack, who was arrested for serious firearms offences in Spain last year and is currently fighting extradition to the UK.
Meanwhile, while she may be worrying about her husband and brother’s potential prison sentences, a battle for her luxury goods is brewing.
Gerry Hutch (centre) enjoys a night out in Lanzarote with James ‘Jaws’ Byrne (left) and his wife Sadie (right), Joanne’s parents, in 2014
Gerry Hutch, pictured on April 17, 2023, walked out of the Special Criminal Court in Dublin after he was found not guilty of the murder of David Byrne in 2016 – who was shot dead at the Regency Hotel
Pictured: David Byrne, who was shot dead in Dublin in 2016
James ‘Jaws’ Byrne (centre) and Sadie Byrne (right) outside court after the murder of their son David Byrne
Kinahan gangster Liam Byrne (bottom) was seen near Daniel Kinahan (top) at the funeral of his brother David
Liam was visibly upset as he carried his brother’s coffin in February 2016
Daniel Kinahan (pictured) is a suspected crime boss and boxing promoter who once represented ‘The Gypsy King’ Tyson Fury
His father Christy ‘The Dapper Don’ Kinahan Snr (pictured) was born in Dublin’s north inner city but while in prison in the 1980s he worked on learning languages and business. Upon his release, he relocated to the continent where he established links to European, Asian and South America. He worked in the shadows, creating one of the most ruthless drugs networks in the continent
Joanne Byrne’s cousin is ‘Fat Freddie’ Thompson (pictured), who was convicted of a murder as part of the Hutch-Kinahan feud and sentenced to life in jail
Thompson took over the Dublin Kinahan Cartel after Christy ‘The Dapper Don’ Kinahan Snr went to prison in 1997
British prosecutors are determined to claw back the wealth accumulated by Kavanagh after his years in a life of luxury with Joanne.
After fleeing Dublin after a crackdown on crime and seizures of assets, gangsters such as Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh, 57, and his brother-in-law Liam Byrne, 44, did their best to blend into the British suburbs, appearing as ordinary businessmen to their neighbours.
The Byrne family left Dublin several years ago and moved to a smart home in the Freshfield area of Formby, one of Merseyside’s poshest addresses.
Liam Byrne, who has spent time in Dubai and Spain over recent years, was known for his jet set lifestyle.
However, the truth is that they were executives within a secretive crime cartel, reporting to the upper echelons of the Kinahan family.
After emerging in the backstreets of Dublin, the Kinahan Cartel moved to the Costa Del Sol and then Dubai.
When the US Treasury department announced a raft of sanctions against them in recent years, it compared the Kinahans to the mafia and Mexican cartels.
US officials said the Kinahans were involved in smuggling cocaine from South America to Europe, and linked to firearms and murders.
Today, Christy ‘The Dapper Don’ Kinahan Snr and his two sons Daniel and Christy Jnr are being hunted by the US authorities and cops back in Dublin.
The US has offered a $5million reward for information ‘leading to the financial disruption of the Kinahan Criminal Organisation or the arrest and/or conviction’ of Christy Kinahan Snr.
The Kinahans have also been accused of washing dirty money through a web of front businesses and Daniel is said to exert a malign influence over boxing, particularly in the UK.
Although the KOCG was an international crime group, it also had a strong presence in the UK and is associated with the Byrne Organised Crime Group.
It is not yet clear if the National Crime Agency (NCA) or Irish police force An Garda Síochána will seek to seize any of UK assets linked to Byrne.
Pictured: Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald and Gerry Adams with Jonathan Dowdall, a former Sinn Fein Dublin City Councillor who pleaded guilty to facilitating the murder of David Byrne
Dowdall was jailed for 12 years – a sentence later reduced after appeal to 10 years with the final 25 months suspended
Flowers and notes are left at the Regency Hotel to mark the shooting dead of David Byrne
David Byrne’s mother and father left a note that said ‘our hearts are broken forever’ after the death of their ‘beautiful son’
Joanne Byrne left a note in 2018 that said: ‘Our lives have never and will never be the same again. My heart is broke. Love you soo much, Joanne’
Another note left by Joanne in 2021 said: ‘You were the life and soul of our family, a beautiful soul, a beautiful person and a true gentleman, always trying to help people’
Kavanagh’s gang were targeted after police seized a six-tonne industrial tarmac removal machine at Dover.
Inside, secreted in the plant, was 15 kilos of cocaine and more than 220 kilos of cannabis.
The raid was part of a wider investigation to dismantle his drugs empire, with the NCA officers also targeting his associates – Dublin-born brothers-in-law Gary Vickery and Daniel Canning.
Kavanagh was jailed for 21 years for drug offences, Canning jailed for 19 years six months and Vickery sentenced to 20 years.
Last week Thomas Kavanagh also admitted his role in an astonishing firearms plot to pervert the course of justice.
Messages retrieved on the Encrochat system revealed that Kavanagh conspired with associates to smuggle firearms into the UK.
The plot involved Kavanagh’s brother-in-law, Liam Byrne, who is now facing a massive prison sentence.
Police and prosecutors believe Kavanah used Byrne and other associates on the outside to plant guns in County Down.
Kavanagh had hoped that by leading the NCA to the arsenal some of his prison sentence might be reduced.
But when the NCA hacked the encrypted Encrochat network they could read the messages that implicated Kavanagh in a plot to pervert the course of justice.
The haul included three Skorpion sub-machine guns, three Heckler and Kochs, an Uzi submachine gun and ammunition.
Byrne, from Dublin, was dining in a Majorca restaurant last year when police burst in and arrested him on suspicion of firearms offences. He was later extradited back to the UK and charged.
Meanwhile, when police raided Kavanagh’s home on Sutton Road in suburban Tamworth, they found rooms devoted to the latest fashion items.
The house was rammed with £500,000 of designer gear, including a hundred pairs of designer heels, 120 handbags, 36 pairs of Armani jeans, lines of Hugo Boss suits and closets full of Canada Goose and Moncler jackets. There were drawers full of expensive watches and jewellery.
An astonishing weapons haul included a stun gun, zombie knives, an axe and samurai style sword.
The police seized all the items. Prosecutors are also fighting to seize the house itself.
The Sunday World reported that the CPS has placed a restraint order on Kavanagh’s home in Tamworth that stops his family from selling it.
The order read: ‘Under a restraint order made under section 41 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 on April 16, 2020 – no disposition by the proprietor of the registered estate is to be registered except with the consent of the Crown Prosecution Service, CPS Proceeds of Crime Teams or under a further order of the court.’
It’s not the first time his assets have been seized. In 1996, the Irish Criminal Assets Bureau got an order of £134,000 in unpaid taxes and seized his home in Drimnagh.
After his latest arrest and seizure of assets in the UK, NCA Deputy Director of Investigations Matt Horne said: ‘Kavanagh was a high ranking member of the Kinahan cartel, an organised crime group synonymous with acts of violence. He was their main man in the UK.
‘Through their criminal connections overseas, his organisation was able to organise, import and distribute drugs worth many millions of pounds.
Gary Hutch, nephew of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch, was once a member of the Kinahan mob. He was accused of being an informant and was shot dead following the seizure of a major shipment of cocaine and cannabis which was stopped by British police in Cheshire in February 2014
Pictured: Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch is seen in 1999 (left) and in 2009 (right)
Hutch bought a Hummer limousine in 2005, which he called CAB, which stood for ‘Carry Any Body’
‘These men considered themselves to be untouchable, but we were able to systematically dismantle the group and prove that this was not the case.’
He added: ‘This investigation involved co-operation with An Garda Síochána in Ireland. We are determined to work together to target criminal networks impacting communities on both sides of the Irish sea.
‘Our financial investigation into Kavanagh and his associates is ongoing, with a view to stripping them of any assets they have acquired through their criminality. This is not the end of our activity targeting this group.’
Kate Anderson, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor of the CPS International Justice and Organised Crime Division, said: ‘This organised crime group imported millions of pounds worth of dangerous drugs into the country, concealing them in machinery in a bid to evade detection.
‘They showed no regard for the communities they were putting at risk and pleaded guilty in the face of overwhelming evidence showing their part in this illicit operation.
‘Cases like this demonstrate our commitment to disrupting organised criminal activity – and ensuring they face justice.’
Assistant Commissioner John O’Driscoll, who headed Organised and Serious Crime within An Garda Síochána, said: ‘An Garda Síochána has forged a very powerful working relationship with the UK’s National Crime Agency, which is assisting in ensuring that communities in the UK and Ireland are better protected from organised crime’.
A spokesperson for the CPS said that Thomas Kavanagh is the subject of confiscation proceedings arising out of his conviction for importing drugs.
The next asset seizing hearing is set for October 8, at Ipswich Crown Court.
Joanne’s husband and brother will learn their sentences for their part in a ruse to lead police to a planted cache of guns later this month.
Thomas Kavanagh, 56, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to possess ammunition for a firearm without a certificate, two counts of conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon and one count of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Liam Byrne, 44, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to possess ammunition for a firearms without a certificate and two counts of conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon.
Shaun Kent, 38, who helped the pair, pleaded guilty two counts of conspiracy to possess ammunition for a firearm without a certificate, two counts of conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon and one count of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
The three men are set to be sentenced on October 21 and 22 at the Old Bailey.
