Jail term increased for former footballer caught moving €2.7m of heroin

A former professional footballer who was caught moving over €2.7 million worth of heroin has had his jail time increased after a successful appeal by the State. 

Keith Quinn (33) was sentenced to seven and half years imprisonment with three years suspended after he pleaded guilty to possession of the drug for sale or supply at Rosemount Business Park, Dublin 11, on August 5, 2020.  

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) later appealed the sentence on the grounds it was unduly lenient. 

Today, the Court of Appeal agreed with the DPP and quashed the original term imposed by Judge Pauline Codd at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last April. 

The three-judge court resentenced Quinn to eight years imprisonment with the last 18 months suspended.  

Delivering the judgment, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, sitting with Court President Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, said the court had no issue with Judge Codd’s original headline sentence of 12-and-a-half years.  

Although Ms Justice Kennedy conceded there had been many mitigating factors in the case, she adjusted the original mitigation from five years to four-and-a-half while reducing the suspended period from three-and-a-half to 18 months.  

Earlier, John Barry BL, for the DPP, told the court that there had been “a substantial and gross departure from the norm” in the original sentencing. 

Mr Barry said that terms of seven-and-a-half to eight years had been imposed for similar offences in the past.  

“This offence is at the upper end of the spectrum,” he said.  

Although Mr Barry conceded that the respondent did provide “material assistance” to the gardai by handing over the access code to his mobile device, he said the respondent failed to provide the names of other suspects. 

Michael O’Higgins, for Quinn, said his client was “not and has never been a drug user” and he said, would have failed to appreciate the value of the drugs he had been handling. 

Although a promising footballer, who had signed a professional contract with English side Sheffield United at the age of 18, Quinn’s football career began to wane after the death of his mother, Mr O’Higgins explained. 

The loss of his mother, said Mr O’Higgins, had placed his client in a “dark place” and his footballing career subsequently “petered out” and he returned to Ireland where he played for Bluebell United. 

Background reports, according to counsel, stated Quinn had very low self-esteem and was someone who “sees himself as a failure, sees himself as incompetent”. 

Mr O’Higgins also told the court his client was a gambling addict who owed €30,000 in gambling debts and that “this was a case where the fear of other parties was a real and genuine fear”. 

The prospects of rehabilitation, however, were “very, very high” for his client, he said.   

Earlier evidence:  

Quinn formerly of Monastery Gate Avenue, Clondalkin, Dublin but now a prisoner at Mountjoy, had received a package containing the heroin at his place of work in an industrial estate in west Dublin.  

Soon afterwards he met with another man and then delivered the package to a nearby address, the hearing at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in April was told.  

Quinn has four previous convictions for minor road traffic offences. 

Alan Quinn (41), the accused's older brother and a former footballer for the Irish national team, gave evidence before the court that his brother had a good upbringing and none of the family have any convictions. 

Mr Quinn said he did not condone what his brother did, but he does not think his brother “is a bad lad”. He said his brother is not a drug dealer and he deserves a second chance. 

Detective Garda Liam Aherne told John Berry BL, prosecuting, that in August 2020, police authorities in the UK became suspicious of a package travelling through the UK which had been sent from the Netherlands and had a final destination in Ireland. 

Det Gda Aherne said UK police opened the package and determined that it contained heroin before contacting gardaí.  

An operation was put in place to continue the delivery and on the date in question a detective dressed in a UPS uniform delivered the package to the accused's work address in the Dublin industrial estate. 

The package, which was had the name “Keith” on the address label, was given to Quinn who sent a photo of it to his co-accused. He received a text back saying, “do nothing until I get there”. 

Quinn put the package in his car and drove alongside the co-accused in a separate car to another part of the industrial estate. Quinn entered a premises on his own and then came out without the package. 

He and his co-accused were arrested shortly thereafter and the package was recovered. The total value of the heroin was €2,769,130.