Head of UK’s Kinahan crime group ordered to pay back £1.1 million

Kavanagh was jailed for 21 years in March 2022 for orchestrating the importation of multi-million-pound drug shipments worth around £30 million at UK street value. He also admitted being involved in the illegal trafficking of firearms and money laundering.

Another high-ranking gang member, Gary Vickery (aged 43), was arrested in October 2017 after NCA officers seized 15 kilos of cocaine and more than 220 kilos of cannabis, which was found inside a six-tonne industrial tarmac removal machine in Dover.

Subsequent investigations showed that Kavanagh was heading up the criminal enterprise, and he was arrested at Birmingham Airport as he returned from holiday in January 2019.

Following his sentencing, NCA investigators began looking into the gang’s finances and assets for seizure under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Officers estimated that Kavanagh’s criminal profits were in the region £12.2 million, but recoverable assets amounted to £1,123,096.84.

This includes his 50% share of his fortified family mansion in Tamworth, Staffordshire, money from the sale of various other properties in the UK and a villa in Spain and approximately £150,000 of high-end bags, clothes and accessories, which were discovered when Kavanagh’s house was searched following his initial arrest in 2019.

Vickery was also subject to the Proceeds of Crime Act hearing and has been ordered to pay back £109,312.90 within three months or face another two years in prison.

At previous hearings, orders were made to forfeit an Audemars Piguet watch worth £75,000, as well as just over 100,000 Euros seized from a hotel room when Vickery was arrested.

Elaborate plan

In October last year, Kavanagh admitted additional firearms offences and perverting the course of justice after NCA officers uncovered an elaborate plan that he had hoped would significantly reduce his prison sentence.

Kavanagh directed his trusted associates Shaun Kent and Liam Byrne to purchase firearms and ammunition and bury them so that he could reveal their whereabouts to NCA investigators. All three were jailed for a total of 17 years, with Kavanagh’s six years to be served on top of his 21-year sentence.

Kay Mellor, head of operations HQ at the NCA, said: “Thomas Kavanagh was the head of the UK’s arm of the Kinahan organised crime group, responsible for the importation and distribution of drugs and firearms, making millions of pounds in the process. He and his gang believed they were untouchable, but that proved to be their downfall. Kavanagh and Vickery will be behind bars for many years to come and now have to pay back more than £1 million to the state.”

Mellor added: “We will continue to use every tool at our disposal to target, disrupt and dismantle organised crime groups, deprive them of their assets and ensure they face justice.”

Dangerous criminals 

Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor, commented: “Thomas Kavanagh and Gary Vickery are dangerous criminals in the organised gang world, importing millions of pounds’ worth of dangerous drugs on an industrial scale to the UK. The successful £1 million Confiscation Order demonstrates the prosecution team’s commitment to work across borders to strip organised criminals of their illegal gains.”

Foster went on to state: “We continue to pursue the proceeds of crime robustly and will return these individuals back to court to serve an additional sentence of imprisonment if they fail to pay their orders.”

In the last five years, over £478 million has been recovered from Crown Prosecution Service-obtained Confiscation Orders, ensuring that thousands of convicted criminals cannot benefit from their offending. £95 million of that amount has been returned to the victims of crime by way of compensation.