A 32-YEAR-OLD MAN has pleaded guilty to assisting in the movement and disposal of the body parts of murdered teenager Keane Mulready-Woods, whose dismembered remains were discovered in Dublin almost six years ago.

Glen Bride (32) of Mount Olive Park, Kilbarrick, Dublin 5 was arraigned before the non-jury Special Criminal Court today, where he replied “guilty” to a charge that on 15 January 2020, within the State, knowing or believing another person to be guilty of the murder of Keane Mulready-Woods, without reasonable excuse, he participated in or contributed to the transportation and disposal of body parts of the teenager intending by such activity to impede the apprehension or prosecution of that other person.

John Byrne SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, asked the court to set a date in January for sentencing, which he said was likely to take an hour and a half.

Justice Karen O’Connor adjourned the matter to 26 January.

Keane Mulready-Woods was last seen alive in Drogheda on 12 January 2020. The following day, some of the teenager’s body parts were found in a sports bag in the Moatview area of Coolock in Dublin. 

Two days later, remains were found in a burning car in a laneway in the Drumcondra area.

His torso was discovered on 11 March 2020, hidden in an overgrown ravine during a search of waste-ground at Rathmullan Park in Drogheda, near where the teenager is believed to have been murdered.

In February 2023, the Special Criminal Court jailed Drogheda criminal Paul Crosby for ten years for facilitating the “disgraceful and inhuman” murder of the teenager.

Crosby’s co-accused Gerard Cruise was considered by the court to be at a lower level and received a sentence of seven-and-a-half years with the final six months suspended for two years.

Cruise (51) with addresses in Drogheda and Lower Sherrard St, Dublin 1, had pleaded guilty to a charge that, with knowledge of the existence of a criminal organisation, he facilitated the murder of Keane Mulready-Woods at Rathmullan Park, Drogheda, Co Louth, between the dates of 11 and 13 January 2020, contrary to Section 72 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006.

Crosby (29), last of Rathmullan Park, Drogheda, Co Louth pleaded guilty to the same charge.

The court had previously heard that the chief suspect for the murder was Robert Lawlor, a “notorious” criminal who was linked to several murders. Lawlor was shot dead in Belfast in April 2020. At the time of Keane Mulready-Woods’ murder, Lawlor was “heavily involved in a feud between rival criminal gangs in Drogheda”.

Keane went missing on the late afternoon of 12 January 2020. On 14 January gardaí with a search warrant went to the home of Gerard ‘Ged’ McKenna (55) in Rathmullan Park in Drogheda, which was confirmed as the site of Keane’s murder by DNA and blood spatter evidence. 

McKenna was jailed for four years after pleading guilty to assisting in the clean-up of the crime scene following the murder.

The DPP today entered a nolle prosequi (a decision not to proceed) in relation to two further charges on the indictment against Bride; participating in or contributing to the transportation and disposal of the teenager’s body parts for the purpose of enhancing the ability of a criminal organisation to commit murder and setting fire to a Volvo V40 motor car for the benefit of a criminal organisation.