Heroin dealer’s wife asks court if husband Mitchell died from the drug he peddled 20/08/'24 Norah Fennell, wife of Jeffrey Mitchell pictured leaving the inquest into the death of former gang boss, Jeffrey Mitchell, who died in a Peter McVerry hostel in Santry on 10th November 2022..Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin Norah Fennell A post for Fran Fennell’s birthday Jeffrey Mitchell pictured in 2002 Fran Fennell, with Brian O’Reilly, left, was mentored by Eamon ‘The Don’ Dunne Fran Fennell This is the mum of playboy cocaine trafficker Fran Fennell leaving court after asking the coroner if ex-mobster husband Jeffrey Mitchell died from heroin abuse.
Norah Fennell’s question came as it was heard Mitchell had been found dead in his bed in a McVerry Trust hostel in north county Dublin nearly two years ago. Her son, Fran Fennell, who financed a playboy lifestyle by smuggling drugs to Australia and New Zealand, is currently serving an eight-year sentence. Ms Fennell asked if ex-hubby Mitchell had died from a heroin overdose, adding that media reports at the time said a quantity of the drug was found at the scene.
Norah Fennell A garda witness gave evidence that nothing “of evidential value was found at the scene” and there was nothing suspicious about Mitchell’s death. Ms Fennell said she had seen her husband on the day before his death when he was in a great mood. “He was in better form than usual,” she said.
20/08/'24 Norah Fennell, wife of Jeffrey Mitchell pictured leaving the inquest into the death of former gang boss, Jeffrey Mitchell, who died in a Peter McVerry hostel in Santry on 10th November 2022..Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin The inquest heard there were “a lot of substances in his system” including cocaine, benzodiazepines, morphine and other drugs.
It was most likely that “the combination of different medications” had caused his death rather than an overdose of any single drug. None of the drugs in Mitchell’s system were of a quantity that would be considered in the lethal range individually, according to the coroner. The coroner said Mitchell had died from “multi-drug toxicity” with chronic lung disease considered a contributory factor.
A post for Fran Fennell’s birthday Last October, Ms Fennell’s son, Fran, was jailed for his role in organising a network of drug mules to bring cocaine into Australia and New Zealand. Social media accounts showed how Fran Fennell had enjoyed holidays in Australia, Dubai, Cuba, Holland, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Ibiza and even Colombia. Gardaí believe Fran Fennell became a leading supplier of cocaine to Dublin’s socialite drug users.
He had forged ties with some of the capital’s most dangerous criminals as a teenager and had been mentored by gang boss Eamon ‘The Don’ Dunne. One photo online shows Fennell enjoying a night out with Dunne and his pal Brian O’Reilly. Fran Fennell, with Brian O’Reilly, left, was mentored by Eamon ‘The Don’ Dunne After Dunne was murdered in 2010, Fennell forged links with key figures in the Kinahan network and was supplied by Ross Browning’s drugs operation in Dublin.
On a trip to Australia, he realised there were huge profits to be made Down Under, where cocaine sold at much higher prices. Fran Fennell’s playboy lifestyle, funded by his drug dealing, began to unravel when his phone was seized at Darwin Airport in April 2015. Messages and information from the phone were downloaded and shared with gardaí who raided his home.
Fran Fennell In January 2016, gardaí carried out more raids and seized items including drugs paraphernalia, quantities of cash, receipts for luxury hotels and expensive watches. In 2018, New Zealand authorities seized €50,000 after a court ruled Fennell had used couriers to supply coke and ecstasy there and in Australia. Last October, he was given an eight-year sentence at Dublin Circuit Court when the trial judge said Fennell saw it as a “get rich quick scheme” and was living a lavish lifestyle.
His mother’s husband, Jeffrey Mitchell, had once been one of the biggest drug dealers in Dublin shipping an estimated 40kgs of heroin a week in the late 1990s. In 2000, he was considered one of new breed of dangerous drug dealers along with ‘The Westies’ gang and the Ballyfermot-based ‘The Family’. He was the target of Operation Jumbo, such was his infamy after the murders of Neil Hanlon and courier David McGreevy in 2001 and 2002.
In June 2001, two members of the Westies gang burst into Mitchell’s home and tried to shoot their former partner, who managed to escape through a rear window without injury. Mitchell had also fallen out with The Family in Ballyfermot after a €1.9 million heroin deal went wrong and resulted in one of their senior members being convicted.
A member of Mitchell’s gang, 23-year-old Dave McGreevy, was shot dead outside his home in Tallaght in February 2002, a crime which remains unsolved. Mitchell angrily denied he had anything to do with the murder, telling the Sunday World he didn’t shoot people. “I sold drugs and robbed banks, but I don’t go around shooting people,” he said.
“I don’t order hits on cops or screws or ordinary people.” Mitchell claimed that he was being blamed for the murder by “the papers” and that McGreevy was his best friend. Jeffrey Mitchell pictured in 2002 The soccer-mad charmer was also a hit with women and despite his violent streak was known to pay his gang members well.
He paid for his then girlfriend Ciara Mahony’s boob job. After they broke up she married Brian Mahony, who became a target of the Criminal Assets Bureau. Mitchell was arrested at gunpoint in Naas after going on the run following a botched armed robbery for which he was later convicted and given a six-year sentence in 2002.
During his spell in prison, he suffered personal tragedy with eight members of his family, including his parents, dying in an eight-month period. It was later heard in a court case that he fell into serious drug addiction..
