Innocent plumber Anthony Campbell was brutally murdered by a gunman in 2006.
“It was a tough scene. It was really cruel,” says former detective Brian Sherry of innocent apprentice plumber Anthony Campbell’s brutal murder 18 years ago.
The 20-year-old was just doing an honest day’s work. On December 12, 2006, he was gunned down as he worked on radiators in a house owned by the niece of gang boss Martin ‘Marlo’ Hyland in Finglas, north Dublin.
But Anthony was not the target that day — Hyland was.
The notorious criminal was shot six times as he slept in a bedroom after two gunmen snuck inside and crept upstairs.
Fearing Anthony would be able to identify them, one of the hitmen raised his gun and a single shot went straight through the young man’s hand and hit him in the head, leaving his dead body lying slumped by the radiator he’d been trying to fix.
Innocent apprentice plumber Anthony Campbell
Almost two decades later, the baby-faced plumber’s senseless killing is still unsolved.
The horrifying case is the focus of Crime World’s latest podcast series, Caught In The Crossfire, an investigation into the events of that fateful day launching weekly from Tuesday, May 21.
Across six episodes, Nicola Tallant speaks to those most intimately affected by one of the country’s most shocking killings, including Joey O’Callaghan, the youngest person ever to enter the Witness Protection Programme in Ireland.
Retired detective Brian Sherry was on the scene on the morning of the murders and describes it as one of the most devastating cases he’s ever worked on.
“When I walked into the house that morning, I saw him on the floor with a hole in his head and he was lying just under the radiator,” he recalls in episode one.
“Young Anthony was just left on the ground.
“He was a young man; he was 20 years of age, but he certainly didn’t look 20.
“When I saw him, he looked like a young lad of 15 just lying curled on the ground.
“I have seen some horrendous scenes and I’ve been in horrendous situations and things like that, and it never affected me.
“This was one murder of [several] murders that we didn’t solve, obviously, but none of them affected me like this one.”
Gardai believe deceased mob boss and former Marlo Hyland gang member Eamon ‘The Don’ Dunne was behind the hit and ordered the murder of his former boss.
Anthony Campbell and his mum Christine
In March 2012, journalist Paul Williams, in evidence given before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, alleged that the murder was carried out by imprisoned criminals Willie Hynes and John Mangan.
He also alleged the late Eamon Dunne acted as the getaway driver in the hit.
Dunne himself died in a hail of bullets when a gunman opened fire on him in a Cabra pub in April 2010.
However, Sherry admits that while there was “a lot of pressure on him” and his investigations unit to get to the bottom of the murders, no one has ever served time for Anthony or Hyland’s deaths.
Eamon ‘The Don’ Dunne
“We put our backs and bones into it. The amount of work that went into it was just incredible. We didn’t leave any stone unturned.
“It was horrendous. It was one that we all wanted to solve, every one of us.”
Anthony’s mother, Christine Campbell, also tells her story in Caught In The Crossfire, detailing the horrific moment she learned her only child had been killed by criminals and the nightmare that followed.
“You associate gangsters with one another, not innocent people, but it was just like – what way would I put it? – your head’s okay, but your body shuts down because you’re just in shock,” she tells Nicola in a later episode.
“As I always say, I wish God had taken me. I think for any mother to lose their child, it’s the worst feeling ever, no matter what way you lose them. It’s your child. We shouldn’t be losing kids, should we?”
Seeking justice for Anthony has always been the bereaved mum’s priority, but it’s taken her a long time to reconcile with the fact that whoever took his life wasn’t caught and still walks free today.
“As a mum, I can be hard on myself because I don’t feel I got the justice I should have for him… I’m let down by that,” she shares.
“After two years I thought, ‘Well, I’m getting nowhere here’… I had to start protecting myself, saying to myself, ‘don’t wish’.
“You get your hopes up, and then your hopes are crushed. As the years start going on, it does something to you.
“You cannot say you haven’t changed in all the grief, but you’re still looking, but you feel like you haven’t done him proud because you didn’t get justice. That will live with me.”
Crime World Presents: Caught In The Crossfire will be available on all podcast platforms from Tuesday, May 21, with new episodes dropping weekly.
Listen on Apple Podcasts here
Listen on Spotify here
