Friend of dismembered murdered Dubliner arrested for digging up grave

A friend of slain teen Keane Mulready-Woods has been arrested for digging up the grave of the brother of Willie Maughan, who is believed to have been murdered in 2015.

Willie Maughan, 35, and his girlfriend  Anna Varslavane, 21, went missing in 2015 and are believed to have been murdered as part of an ongoing conflict between two criminal gangs in Drogheda, Co Louth.

It's believed the couple may have been killed because they had information about a gangland murder, Dublin Live reports.

Read More: Dublin criminal suspected of dismembering Keane Mulready Woods shot dead in Belfast

A year after the couple’s disappearance, on August 18, 2016, the grave of Willie’s brother Michael “Bobby” Maughan in Bohernabreena, Tallaght, was dug up and desecrated.

Bobby Maughan, a father-of-four, died from meningitis in 2008 at the age of 30.

A young male in his 20s and a suspected key figure in the gangland feud has now been arrested in relation to the grave desecration, The Sun reports.

It is the first time someone has been arrested in connection with the desecration of the grave since it happened four years ago. Three men are thought to have been involved in the grave desecration.

A Garda spokesman said: "We have arrested a man in his 20s in Drogheda on 18th August in relation to an incident of criminal damage which occurred at a Cemetery in Bohernabreena, Co. Dublin on 17th August 2016.

"The man is currently detained in Tallaght Garda Station under Section 4 of The Criminal Justice Act, 1984.

"No further information is available at this time and investigation are ongoing."

Read More: Irish teen's body brutally dismembered by crime gang

The unnamed suspect was reportedly once a close associate of Keane Mulready-Woods, whose dismembered body was found in north Dublin in January.

It is believed Mulready-Woods, 17, was abducted from his home in Drogheda before being tortured and killed and his body parts placed in different locations.

Robbie Lawlor, the Dublin criminal suspected of Mulready-Woods' murder, was shot dead in Belfast in April.