Man paid €10k to murder friend is jailed for life

A 33-year-old criminal who lured a friend to his death seven years ago and shot him in the back has been sentenced to life in prison at the Central Criminal Court.

Conor Dolan shot Neil Fitzgerald six times and left him lying on the ground at Crooksling in county Dublin in 2016.

According to reporting by RTE, he originally denied the charge of murder, but changed his plea to guilty in July of this year.

He had previously described to his former girlfriend how he carried out the murder and told her he was paid €10,000, half of what he had been promised.

Mr Fitzgerald was found shot dead at Hills Lane, a rural country lane in the townland of Crooksling, off the Tallaght to Blessington road, on the morning of 5 June 2016.

The 35-year-old sustained nine bullet wounds, three of which were exit wounds, after he had been shot six times just after midnight.

Dolan left the country but was detained in the UK on a European Arrest Warrant and arrested by Detective Garda Conor Harrison when he arrived back in Dublin.

He originally denied the murder, but on the second day of his trial pleaded guilty to the murder of Mr Fitzgerald.

In court coverage, RTE reports that Dolan was sentenced to a mandatory term of life in prison by Ms Justice Eileen Creedon.