The Murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe

Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe was on duty at Lordship Credit Union near Bellurgan, County Louth, on January 25, 2013. He was protecting staff moving the day's takings when an armed gang arrived. Donohoe was killed during the robbery, beginning a long investigation that stretched across Ireland and the United States.

The Lordship Credit Union robbery

Investigators established that a group used a stolen Volkswagen Passat to block the credit union exit and carry out the robbery. About €7,000 in cash and cheques was taken. The criminal case later relied on a combination of CCTV, mobile-phone evidence, evidence about the stolen vehicle and testimony from people who said Aaron Brady admitted killing a Garda while he was living in the United States.

This page does not identify every person suspected of belonging to the wider robbery group as a murderer. Criminal responsibility has to be tied to an actual conviction or other sufficiently reliable judicial finding.

Aaron Brady's trial

Brady was returned to Ireland after living in the United States and went on trial at the Central Criminal Court. In August 2020, a jury found him guilty of the capital murder of Detective Garda Donohoe and of the robbery.

Because Donohoe was a Garda acting in accordance with his duty, the murder conviction carried a mandatory life sentence and the trial judge fixed a minimum term of 40 years. Brady also received a 14-year sentence for the robbery.

The Court of Appeal

Brady challenged the murder conviction on dozens of grounds. His arguments included complaints about holding the trial during the Covid-19 pandemic, the admission of CCTV and mobile-phone evidence, testimony given by witnesses in the United States by video link and the fairness of aspects of the prosecution case.

On July 11, 2024, the Court of Appeal rejected every ground and left the murder conviction in place. The court found that the trial judge had managed the pandemic-related difficulties carefully and that the challenged evidence had been properly admitted.

The Supreme Court closes the conviction appeal

Brady then sought permission to bring a further appeal to Ireland's Supreme Court. On November 21, 2024, the Supreme Court rejected the proposed grounds. Reporting on the judgment described the ruling as exhausting Brady's final legal avenue to overturn the murder conviction.

The result is editorially important: Brady can be described as the person convicted of Donohoe's murder because the conviction survived both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court permission process.

Separate attempts to interfere with the trial

Brady later admitted a separate offense of perverting the course of justice committed during his murder trial. That prosecution concerned efforts involving prosecution witnesses and does not create a new murder conviction. In July 2026, the Court of Appeal found the original sentence for the justice offense too lenient and increased it to five years.

The five-year sentence is to begin after Brady's 14-year robbery sentence, while both operate alongside the minimum 40-year term attached to the capital-murder life sentence. This later sentencing development does not change the murder verdict.

Other alleged participants

Separate investigations and prosecutions have addressed people alleged to have helped with the robbery or attempts to interfere with witnesses. Their outcomes have not all been the same. For example, in March 2025 the Court of Appeal overturned James Flynn's conviction for conspiring to steal the getaway car because of a procedural error in the indictment.

That ruling concerned Flynn's separate conviction; it did not overturn Brady's capital-murder conviction. The page therefore avoids merging different defendants, charges and appellate outcomes into one generalized claim of guilt.

Timeline

1. January 25, 2013
   Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe is murdered

   Donohoe is killed during an armed robbery at Lordship Credit Union in County Louth.

2. 2018
   Brady returned to Ireland

   Aaron Brady is returned from the United States and prosecuted in Ireland.

3. August 2020
   Capital-murder conviction

   A jury convicts Brady of Donohoe's murder and the robbery.

4. October 2020
   Life sentence with 40-year minimum

   The court imposes the mandatory life sentence and fixes a minimum term of 40 years for the capital murder.

5. July 11, 2024
   Court of Appeal rejects conviction appeal

   All grounds are dismissed and the murder conviction remains in force.

6. November 21, 2024
   Supreme Court refuses further appeal

   The court rejects Brady's bid for permission to pursue another challenge to the conviction.

7. July 31, 2026
   Separate justice-offense sentence increased

   The Court of Appeal raises Brady's sentence for perverting the course of justice to five years; the murder conviction is unaffected.

Current status

The case is solved and adjudicated as to Aaron Brady. He is serving life imprisonment for the capital murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe, with a minimum term of 40 years. His conviction appeal failed in July 2024, and the Supreme Court refused permission for a further challenge in November 2024.