[7][8] Jimmy Flynn and Brendan Treanor went on trial in the Special Criminal Court in February 2023, charged with the robbery of the credit union in Lordship and also with conspiracy to enter residential premises with the intention of stealing car keys.

[18] At 8:49pm, a dark coloured Volkswagen Passat was observed to have driven to the end of a laneway close to the back of Lordship credit union before returning onto the main road, which was subsequently determined to have dropped off four members of the robbery team.

[48] Also in April, heavily armed members from the PSNI Special Operations Branch (C4) raided four houses in south County Armagh and seized mobile phones and documentation, as well as taking away other material for forensic examination.

[52] All five suspects were classified as young males, from either side of the Louth-Armagh border, part of a larger criminal gang of around 15 to 20 people, with connections through their family and acquaintances to dissident republican paramilitary and terror organisations.

Senior detectives from the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation travelled to the United States in late 2013, and in December they – accompanied by US law enforcement – brought two suspects in for questioning from a property in New York.

On Sunday, 4 March 2018 at a special sitting of Dundalk District Court, 27-year-old Aaron Brady from New Road, Crossmaglen, County Armagh, was charged with the capital murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe in the course of his duty.

Credit Union worker Bernadette McShane also told the court how she witnessed Detective Donohoe fall to the ground after hearing a loud bang, before some men smashed her car windows and demanded money from her.

Credit Union worker Mary Hanlon testified how when she attempted to leave the car park on the night of the robbery, a Volkswagen Passat driven by a woman with blonde hair and a beanie hat suddenly drove across the entrance blocking her in, and at first she presumed the driver had stopped to take a phone call.

[84] Garda Inspector John Moroney testified that he was directing a team of about 30 Gradaí searching the area around Lordship credit union the morning after the robbery, when at 12:35pm he observed a BMW car driving towards Ballymacscanlon stopping at a checkpoint.

Insp Moroney recognised the front seat passenger as Aaron Brady, as he was prosecuting him for a different criminal matter at Dundalk Circuit Court,[85] and he decided to separate him and the driver of the car for questioning.

CCTV footage from the area showed a car similar to a BMW 5 Series slowly cruising the streets of Clogherhead at 3am on the morning of 27 January 2013, and the Passat was stolen shortly afterwards from the nearby Hillcrest estate.

[89] The BMW was described by Detective Garda Gareth Kenna as being distinctive, as it had large multi-spoke alloy wheels, twin exhausts, a yellow number plate and a vinyl roof that was a different colour to the rest of the car.

The court was then shown a montage of CCTV clips from the same morning that showed a saloon-type car with its fog lights lit driving south to Monasterboice and Termonfeckin, and in some of the footage the different colour tone of the roof was clearly visible.

[99] Daniel Cahill also testified via video link from America, and described how Brady had told him on multiple occasions that he had shot a Garda officer during a "robbery gone wrong" while drinking in the Bronx pub he was a barman of.

[103] Inspector Mark Phillips confirmed to the court that a marijuana growing operation and a quantity of steroids were discovered at Cahill's home on the day of his arrest, however the local Assistant District Attorney had decided not to press criminal charges in relation to either of these discoveries.

Brady claimed to have moved to America in April 2013 to escape adverse media attention, after a pixelated image taken from his Facebook page was splashed over the newspapers in articles relating to the robbery at Lordship.

[108] Addressing the jury at the conclusion of the trial, Lorcan Staines SC described Brady as a "skilled and practised liar", who had taken part in the robbery at Lordship to cover thousands of euros in compensation he was required to pay from an earlier criminal case, and who had made the conscious decision to open fire on the Gardaí who were escorting the credit union workers that night.

[117] O'Higgins SC also reminded the jury that the prosecution had to have proved their case beyond reasonable doubt that the gunman knew before he opened fire that Adrian Donohoe was a Garda acting in the course of his duty at the time in order to convict Brady of capital murder.

O'Higgins highlighted how the robber shouted at Donohoe's partner to "give me the f***ing money", and asked if this was consistent with the raiders knowing in advance that they were Garadí on duty and not credit union workers instead.

[127] This video was thereafter spread on social media during Brady's murder trial, with the presiding judge Mr Justice Michael White declaring it an attempt to intimidate Ronan Flynn along with other potential witnesses.

[129] On 11 April 2024, Dean Byrne pleaded not guilty at the Special Criminal Court to a charge of conspiring to pervert the course of justice, in relation to efforts to persuade Daniel Cahill not to give evidence against Aaron Brady at his trial.

Prosecution counsel Lorcan Staines outlined to the court a number of incriminating text and audio messages recovered from a mobile phone discovered in Byrne's cell in Mountjoy Prison which mentioned Daniel Cahill.

[160] On 3 May 2023, Justice Tony Hunt ruled that pictures of a tattoo on Brendan Treanor's back[161] be admitted into evidence, despite protests from defense lawyers that it was irrelevant to the facts and should not form part of the prosecution case.

[162] On 16 May 2023, Lorcan Staines SC completed his lengthy closing speech to the court by summarizing how CCTV footage, matched with messages and calls between various phones, showed that Jimmy Flynn and Aaron Brady travelled late at night to Clogherhead on the same day a Volkswagen Passat (allegedly the getaway car from the robbery) was stolen in a creeper burglary.

Since the credit union was exactly a 15-minute drive away from their house, Guerin asserted that it was highly unlikely that Treanor would be able to make it home in time to get cleaned up / dried off and dispose of dirty clothing within the timeframe allowed.

He also raised the evidence of a witness who had seen a Volkswagen Passat (possibly the getaway vehicle) about five minutes after the robbery, driving at high speed the wrong way around the Ballymascanlon roundabout near Lordship and onto the M1 motorway (Junction 18) heading south towards Dublin, which is in the opposite direction of Treanor's home.

He also dismissed the prosecution's theory of Flynn testing police response times, as gardai were highly unlikely to treat a report of intruders at a yard with the same urgency as an armed robbery on a financial institution where shots were fired resulting in death or serious injury.

[12] On 11 September 2023, James Flynn was found guilty of breaking into a house in Clogherhead and stealing the keys of a car which was allegedly later used in the robbery of Lordship Credit Union and the capital murder of Adrian Donohoe.

The court was satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt that it was Flynn's BMW 5 Series (with a distinctive modified rooftop) seen on CCTV footage near the scene of the burglary and then driving in convoy with the stolen Passat that was subsequently used as the robbery getaway car.

[169] On 21 December 2023, James Flynn was sentenced at the Special Criminal Court to 8 years in prison for stealing the keys of the car allegedly used as the getaway vehicle during the armed robbery of Lordship Credit Union in 2013.