Garda killer Aaron Brady and gang pal pose in balaclavas just weeks before murder

Embracing the evil murderer in the picture is James ‘Jimmy’ Flynn, who carried out surveillance with Brady before the shooting and was involved in stealing the getaway car used.

Det Garda Joe Ryan, who was at the scene when his colleague was murdered, later identified these balaclavas as being identical to the masks worn by the raiders during the murder.

The chilling images are revealed in a new book, Murder at Lordship, by journalist Robin Schiller and former Detective Inspector Pat Marry, which details the investigation into the murder gang.

Detective Garda Donohoe was shot dead while on a cash escort at Lordship Credit Union near Dundalk on January 25, 2013.

Crossmaglen man Aaron Brady (33) was convicted of his capital murder in 2020 after a jury found that he was the masked gunman who discharged the shotgun during the robbery.

While on the run in New York, Brady bragged about his crimes and told multiple people that he had murdered the detective.

The trial was marred by efforts to intimidate witnesses, led by Aaron Brady from his Dublin prison cell from where he shared statements and videos of witnesses.

As part of one of the largest ever garda investigations, 65 mobile phones were seized along with electronic devices linked to the suspects. One device analysed was a laptop belonging to Jimmy Flynn (33), Brady’s best friend at the time who was also a suspect in the robbery.

After arriving at Boston airport in April 2013, a federal agent seized Flynn’s laptop and copied its contents before returning the device to him.

Gardai later uncovered significant material from the copied data including an image of a man posing with a long barrelled shotgun — the same type of weapon used to murder Det Garda Donohoe.

Videos from December 17, 2012 — just over five weeks before the murder — also showed Brady enjoying a night out with his girlfriend Jessica King.

In one image he is seen wearing a blue and white striped shirt in a nightclub. A further picture from 4.14am that morning showed Brady in the same shirt wearing a balaclava and holding a bottle of Bacardi. This was taken at a property in Lough Road in Crossmaglen which Brady used as a “party house”.

Stills from a video also showed Flynn and Brady both wearing balaclavas with Flynn pointing a small pistol.

Jessica King later gave a statement to gardai saying that she didn’t believe this weapon was real but that in a drawer in the house that night there was a “real” handgun.

In her statement to then Detective Sergeant Mark Phillips and Detective Garda Jim McGovern she said: “I know that the balaclava was kept in the drawer in the kitchen. There were two, maximum three, balaclavas. The time of this picture was not the first time I saw the balaclavas.”

She also identified Jimmy Flynn as the other man wearing the balaclava.

She told gardai: “Jimmy Flynn is holding a pistol, a wee handgun in his right hand… to me it looks fake like a water pistol. I remember that night earlier on. I’m nearly sure it was that night.

“I saw a black handgun in the top drawer with the balaclavas. This gun was more human sized like a standard, than the other one, like a gun you’d see on TV.” Ms King also recalled how she was told the gun was for “shooting the birds”.

Detective Garda Joe Ryan, who was on the cash escort with Adrian Donohoe when the gang struck, later looked at the videos and identified the balaclavas as looking like the same ones to those worn by the robbery gang.

Last year James Flynn was jailed for eight years for conspiring to steal the getaway car used in the credit union robbery.

His BMW 5 Series was linked to the theft of a Volkswagen Passat three nights earlier in Clogherhead, while it was also used to carry out surveillance of the credit union and collect the raiders after the robbery.

While the Special Criminal Court acquitted him of robbery saying there was insufficient evidence to place him in the car park during the 58 second raid, it found that he was a member of the criminal gang involved.

Investigations are continuing into the other members of the gang involved.

Gardai are trying to bring criminal charges against a suspect living in the US who they believe was involved in stealing the getaway car used in the murder and providing logistical support.

Aaron Brady will be sentenced later this month for circulating a video recorded witness statement from a man who said that Brady admitted to the murder.

The witness later refused to give evidence as a result of what the trial judge described as “intimidation” after the video was circulated online in which the man was called a tout and rat.