Liam Byrne’s son posted the jubilant message as his dad was sentenced to five years, although with time served and remission, he will be out by Christmas 2025.
Lee reacted to his father’s sentence with a series of love heart emojis, and the declaration: “I love you da”.
He added “see u sooooonnnnn!!!!” to the social media post, alongside black sunglasses emojis.
Lee, who has no involvement in crime, was reacting after his Kinahan Cartel chief father and Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh were handed down jail terms for their roles in the firearms plot.
‘Bomber’ Kavanagh – regarded as the head of the Kinahan gang’s UK wing – was sentenced to six years in prison to be served consecutively to his existing 21-year sentence for drug trafficking offences.
Liam Byrne was sentenced to five years – his first lengthy prison term in nearly two decades.
A third man, Shaun Kent from Liverpool, who has already spent more than three years in custody, was jailed for six years.
Lee’s jubilant post
The judge had said that the three can serve half their sentences in custody, which means that Byrne is eligible for release on licence after two-and-a-half years.
However, Byrne is likely to be released before then given he has been in custody since he was arrested in Spain in June 2023 and extradited to the UK last December.
The three men were sentenced after a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation uncovered an elaborate plot to acquire firearms and ammunition “to help the head of an organised crime group get a reduced prison sentence”.
“Whilst on remand for drug trafficking offences in 2019, Thomas Kavanagh, 57, who was based in upmarket Tamworth, set in motion a series of events that he hoped would result in a significant discount to any sentence he was likely to get at the end of his trial,” the NCA said in a statement.
“He sought the assistance of trusted associates Shaun Kent, 38, from Liverpool and Liam Byrne, 44, originally from Dublin, directing them via a fellow inmate in prison to purchase firearms and ammunition and bury them, so he could reveal their whereabouts to NCA investigators.”
Kavanagh’s plan, the NCA said, was to fool the authorities into believing his assistance was genuine, so he would be rewarded for helping. But after the takedown of the encrypted communication platform Encrochat, the intricate scheme was uncovered.
“Over the course of 18 months, at Kavanagh’s direction, Shaun Kent and Liam Byrne began contacting associates to acquire various weapons and ammunition,” the NCA stated.
Lee Byrne with his dad, Liam
They used nicknames to avoid identifying individuals, and slang terms for the weapons and ammunition.
They also discussed at length how they could get hold of the weapons, and how they could get them buried in a location set out by Kavanagh, despite being in the middle of the Covid pandemic and lockdown.
Messages included one Kent received, stating Kavanagh was “under massive pressure and time’s against him” to get the firearms in position before he was due to appear in court again.
In April 2021, through Thomas Kavanagh’s legal representatives, the NCA was provided with a map, leading them to a location near Newry in Northern Ireland.
NCA officers searched the area where two holdalls were found buried just beneath the soil. In those holdalls were 11 machine type weapons and ammunition.
Officers were then able to work backwards, using the Encrochat messages in their possession, to evidence the conspiracy and Kavanagh’s elaborate plan to bury weapons and ammunition.
Shaun Kent was arrested in March 2021 at his home address, where officers recovered £5,000 in cash. He was subsequently charged with a number of offences and remanded into custody.
Thomas Kavanagh, who had been sentenced to 21 years for previous drug trafficking offences, was arrested at HMP Norwich in August 2021. He and Kent were subsequently charged with firearms offences and perverting the course of justice in August 2023.
Byrne had fled the UK, but was arrested in June 2023 in the Alcudia area of Mallorca. He was escorted back to the UK by officers from the NCA in December 2023, where he was also charged with firearms offences and remanded into custody.
All three admitted the offences at the Central Criminal Court on 18 September. They were sentenced at the same court today.
NCA Branch Commander Ty Surgeon said: “At the instruction of their leader Thomas Kavanagh, Shaun Kent and Liam Byrne orchestrated a cynical and dangerous plot to plant a cache of weapons so Kavanagh could direct the NCA to them and reduce his time in prison.
“These weapons were viable and deadly weapons that were in the hands of a criminal gang, loaded and ready for use in criminality. What this group didn’t know is their Encrochat messages had been unveiled for law enforcement to see, showing every detail of their plan.
“The NCA’s mission is to protect the public from serious and organised crime, and as this case shows, we will pursue every avenue, including overseas, to ensure criminals are brought to justice.”
Liam Byrne and Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh
Tim Owen, KC, defending Kavanagh, said the defendants had saved millions of pounds of taxpayer’s money by pleading guilty.
He said it cost £30,000 per day just to transport bring Kavanagh and Byrne from a high secure unit at HMP Belmarsh to the Old Bailey.
Byrne was charged after being extradited from Spain after being arrested as he holidayed in Majorca.
Byrne who lived close to Kavanagh’s family home in Tamworth, Staffordshire, the court heard, has a previous conviction for possession of an imitation firearm when he was 17 in 1998.
His barrister Jeremy Dein, KC, said: “Mr Byrne is man who is now 43 years of age who has been out of trouble for close to a quarter of a century.”
Liam Byrne
He said Byrne was not a “senior member” of the conspiracy. He has been with his partner for 27 years and they have three children.
Byrne is a spray painter and was previously a car salesman.
Mr Dein said: “He never wants to find himself in this position again and at the age of 43 he is determined to lead a good and honest life when he is released.”
Kavanagh, Kent and Byrne admitted two counts of conspiracy to possesses a prohibited weapon and two counts of conspiracy to possess ammunition for a firearm without a certificate between 9 January 2020 and 3 June 2021.
Liam and his son Lee
Kavanagh and Kent admitted perverting the course of justice.
Kent, who received six years imprisonment, has already served more than half of the time on remand and is eligible for release.
Kent’s barrister Thomas Schofield said Kent was a “messenger boy” and when he tried to act on his own to procure firearms from Manchester he was “taken for a fool”.
He said no distress had been caused to any innocent party by the offences and the defendant’s actions had taken the guns “off the streets”.
He said: “This defendant has important personal mitigation which you will have seen in the references from his family.”
Liverpool drug dealer Daniel McLoughlin, 37, was also charged in the plot but cleared after the prosecution earlier offered no evidence against him.
Kinahan cartel lieutenant Byrne is well-known to gardaí in Ireland for his involvement in crime and is the brother of Regency Hotel shooting victim David Byrne.
His father, James ‘Jaws’ Byrne (77) who died last month, was a self-described criminal with links to Martin ‘The General’ Cahill and an armed robber in his younger days.
He was also well known for involvement in fraud and counterfeiting and was targeted by the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) and Revenue around the turn of the millennium.
Last month, Lee, who is in a long-term relationship with Lily-Ella Gerard, the daughter of football legend Steven Gerrard, paid tribute to his grandfather Byrne after the veteran criminal was laid to rest.
He read out a message on behalf of his father Liam who described his late father as his ‘hero’.
Speaking about his father, Lee told mourners: “My da has asked me to say these few words, as you all know how close they both were. I even get a little jealous sometimes.
“They had a bond that could never be broken. They were inseparable. He’s so so sorry he can’t be here today, especially to support my nanny who he also adores.”
Addressing his grandmother Sadie, he said: “My Da has asked us to stand up and do a minute’s silence, and later, we’ll raise a toast to the man we loved the most – your husband, Jemmy.”
“This is from my dad. He said: ‘You’re my hero. Love you always. To Jemmy Byrne – You’ll never walk alone’.”
