Crime boss’s son and Irish accomplice jailed over wild plot to smuggle guns and cut Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh’s sentence.
Guns, Messages and a Dodgy Deal
Jack Kavanagh, 24, from Tamworth, and 43-year-old Peter Keating from Dublin, masterminded a daring scheme to stash firearms and help gangland heavyweight Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh shave time off his prison stretch.
The plan hatched over 18 months using encrypted chat on Encrochat, with Jack – using aliases like ‘BasilBadger’ and ‘ThiLive’ – linking up with Shaun Kent and Liam Byrne to source deadly weapons.
Pressure was mounting, Jack told contacts, desperate to rescue his dad from a long drug run inside. Keating helped plot how to sneak the guns through a go-between.
Gun Stash Found and Arrests Made
The National Crime Agency (NCA) cracked the case in April 2021 after finding 11 machine guns and ammo in two holdalls dumped in Newry, Northern Ireland.
- Shaun Kent was picked up in March 2021.
- Thomas Kavanagh got nabbed in August 2021.
- Liam Byrne bolted to Mallorca but was caught in June 2023.
- Jack Kavanagh was extradited from Spain in November 2023.
Sentences Hit Hard
Jack copped to all charges in November 2024 and got three years and one month. Keating pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey, handed four years eight months, running alongside his existing prison time.
Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh had already picked up an extra six years, while Byrne and Kent got five and six years respectively.
NCA Warns Crime Won’t Pay
“Kavanagh and Keating tried to pull wool over our eyes to cut short the crime boss’s hefty drug sentence,” said Craig Turner, Deputy Director of Investigations at the NCA. “Their encrypted chats exposed their hands-on role in this dangerous arms plot. These weapons were real and deadly.”
The NCA remains hot on the trail, smashing organised crime and sending a clear message: crime doesn’t pay.
