WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT Keane Mulready-Woods, 17, was abducted and dismembered in a brutal gangland killing that shocked Ireland
Tom Towers Senior News Reporter
08:00, 17 Nov 2025
Keane Mulready-Woods was just 17 when he was killed(Image: PA)
A 17-year-old who was kidnapped and dismembered left a haunting final message for his mum before he was brutally killed in a savage gangland murder.
The barbaric killing of Keane Mulready-Woods in 2020 sent shockwaves across Ireland, leaving the nation reeling. The youngster, embroiled in a drug feud in the town of Drogheda, was enticed to a house on 12 January where he was subjected to torture and beheading.
His limbs were thrown from a car in a sports bag onto a footpath in the town of Moatview. His head, hands and feet were later discovered in a burnt out car in Dublin.
Keane’s murder ignited a series of revenge attacks – culminating in the slaying of prime suspect Robbie Lawlor, who was shot dead while collecting a drug debt.
Before his disappearance, Keane rang his mum, informing her he’d be home late and asked her to leave money out for a taxi. Keane, who had been enlisted as a drug courier for a local gang, was under a curfew to be home before nightfall and had been adhering to the rules, according to the Irish Independent, reports the Mirror.
Keane was under a curfew to be home before dark the night of the attack
At the time of his death, he was on licence after being found guilty of intimidating a local mum over the drug debts owed to the gang by her child. It is reported that Lawlor killed Keane as he suspected the teen was involved in the murder of his brother-in-law Richie Carberry at his home in November 2019.
Gardaí suspect Lawlor proceeded to torture the teenager after previously stating he would merely deliver a “punishment beating” over a minor drug debt.
A source told the Irish Sun: “Lawlor was obsessed with Mulready-Woods and was determined to take his life because he was convinced he played a major role in Carberry’s death.
“He escalated his violent tendencies to unprecedented levels when he dismembered the teenager’s body and then taunted his rivals about it.”
The 36-year-old was linked to numerous killings and possessed hundreds of criminal convictions before his fatal shooting.
In December, he voided being jailed after being acquitted of attempting to murder his ex-girlfriend’s new partner’s mother.
Mobster Robbie Lawlor reportedly murdered Keane as he believed the teen was involved in the murder of his brother-in-law
Just weeks following his court acquittal on attempted murder charges, he was attacked outside a gymnasium by an individual connected to one of his alleged murder victims.
Lawlor’s sports bag was seized and his adversaries circulated photographs of themselves sporting his flip-flops.
It is widely accepted that Keane was present during the assault – and an enraged Lawlor allegedly planned retaliation.
One image shared following Keane’s killing featured the sinister message: “Won’t be robbing a man’s flip-flops again.”
In February 2023, local criminal Paul Crosby received a 10-year sentence for facilitating Keane’s murder, whilst his co-defendant Gerard “Rocky” Cruise was imprisoned for seven years.
A third individual, Gerard ‘Ged’ McKenna, admitted guilt to cleaning and removing evidence from the location. In a victim impact statement read on behalf of Keane’s devastated mum Elizabeth, she expressed: “No one could imagine the darkness and sadistic evil in our country I can hear him calling ‘Mam, Mam’ – and the haunting nightmares live forever with us. To lose my child, my son, my baby in a most inhumane, barbaric death is shocking,” she said, adding that part of her died too. I couldn’t protect him.”
