A Dublin man who was hired by another man to arrange the murder of two women he believed were having an online affair with his wife has been sentenced to two years for extortion.
38-year-old Alan Leech, from Hazelbrook Square, Churchtown in Dublin 14, took a payment of €8,000 after pretending to be able to hire a hit man.
He later threatened the man and his wife, while demanding more money.
Judge Orla Crowe said it was a "wicked" scheme which may have been opportunistic but went on to be very deliberate when Leech demanded money from the man's wife who was disabled and had small children.
Leech pleaded guilty to demanding money with menaces on three occasions in January 2020. The two-year sentence was imposed on this charge.
Additional charges of issuing threats and of harassment were taken into account.
At a sentence hearing last month Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Leech was approached by Bryan Kennedy who confided in him that he believed his wife was having an online affair with a couple from Canada.
The men knew each other from the school gate as their children attended the same school.
Last January Kennedy, of Mount Tallant Avenue, Harold's Cross, Dublin 6W, was sentenced at the Central Criminal Court to four and a half years in prison for soliciting Leech to murder two Canadian women on a date between October 2019 and January 2020.
Kennedy believed the only way to salvage his marriage was to arrange for the couple to be killed.
The court heard that Leech quoted a price of €10,000 to arrange the murders but never contracted any third parties nor planned to carry out a murder.
He had instead taken advantage of Kennedy's mistaken belief that he had criminal connections.
After his arrest, Leech told gardaí he had a drug debt and had taken advantage of Kennedy.
"Bryan thought I was involved in gangs and I played along. I thought, if he’s not man enough to control his wife, I’ll take advantage of it," he told gardaí.
The court heard that at one point Leech had an ear piece in his ear while talking to Kennedy to pretend that he was on the phone to third parties who were threatening him. He said he "got it from watching films".
Kennedy paid him €8,000 which he had borrowed from family and friends but when he failed to pay the remaining €2,000 Leech's messages became more threatening.
Leech told Kennedy that the third parties were threatening him for the rest of the money and that he had been beaten up in front of his children.
In text messages to Kennedy, Leech threatened : "I’ll carve your f*****g throat. Don’t dare text me back with your sob stories 'cos I’ll f*****g end you."
On 6 January 2020, Kennedy left Ireland for the UK in fear of Leech and the threats he was making.
Leech went on to threaten Kennedy's wife while she was at home with two children, at one point kicking their front door and saying "I'll be back later".
He also called to the house another time saying "pay up or hand over Bryan Kennedy".
Leech also sent her messages on Facebook saying her husband had sent him photos of the Canadian couple for the purpose of identifying them for the murder.
The court heard Kennedy returned from the UK and went to Nutgrove Shopping Centre with his wife on 11 January, when they heard two whistles and saw Leech, who approached and threatened that he would personally "carve" Kennedy’s face.
Leech has 43 previous convictions, including 27 for theft in 2009 for which he served an 18-month sentence
A victim impact statement submitted by Kennedy’s wife said she has been frightened of leaving the house ever since she was threatened by Leech.
She said she has recurring PTSD nightmares and that her disability has flared and worsened so badly because of stress that she is now in a wheelchair.
"This man has ruined my life, my mental and physical health and my children. My children’s father is in jail because of this," she said.
Justin McQuade BL, defending Leech, said his client had no gangland connections and had simply played Kennedy "like a salmon" by pretending that he was in contact with third parties.
"There was a couple of Walter Mittys on both sides," said Mr McQuade.
He described Leech as "nothing more than a local junkie" who had been "criminally opportunistic" and had milked Kennedy "like a cash cow".
Judge Crowe said Leech had neither the ability nor the intention of carrying out the "wicked" scheme which he had devised to make money out of a highly unusual set of circumstances.
She said while the original actions were opportunistic, it became more deliberate when he decided to call to Kennedy's family home and to pursue his wife who was a vulnerable woman in her home.
Judge Crowe added that the moral culpability was significant and imposed a two-year prison sentence for a charge of demanding money with menaces.
Additional charges of threatening Kennedy and of harassment were taken into account.
