Patrick Doyle, 27, from Portland Row in Dublin, was gunned down after the car in which he was a passenger was ambushed. Doyle, who had been travelling in the car with Gary Hutch and Freddie Thompson, two Drimnagh gang members also well known to gardaí, was shot twice in the head in what had all the hallmarks of a professional assassination.
Garda sources said they suspect the killing was part of a violent Dublin feud, but have not ruled out the theory he may have been targeted by a foreign drug gang. Gardaí fear the shooting will lead to further violence in the Crumlin-Drimnagh feud, which has already claimed at least nine lives since 2001. Gardaí were already on alert following the assassination attempt on crime figure Martin Foley on January 26. Yesterday’s gun attack happened in broad daylight in the town of Cancelada, in the resort area of Estepona, on the Costa del Sol at 2.15pm, Spanish time. Gary Hutch, the nephew of a former Irish crime boss, was driving the car. Another car pulled up beside them and its occupants opened fire. It is understood there were five shots. Four hit the windscreen and a fifth hit the passenger door. Doyle was in the front passenger seat. The driver struck a lamppost, with reports suggesting he received injuries. All three men got out of the car, but Garda sources said the attackers ran after Doyle and shot him twice in the head. The other two escaped. The victim was himself a suspect for two of the murders in the Crumlin feud, that of Joseph Rattigan in July 2002 and Noel Roche in November 2005. He fled the country after Roche’s murder. He is thought to have killed Roche after the rival gang shot dead his close friend Darren Geoghegan, and another man, Gavin Byrne, days earlier. He was described by Garda sources as a violent and vicious individual. Gardaí said Doyle had established himself as a significant drug trafficker in Spain and was involved in shipping large quantities of cannabis, cocaine and heroin from Spain into England and Ireland.
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