The daughter of notorious gangland leader Cornelius Price has sensationally claimed her dad “had nothing to do with” the brutal murders of Willie Maughan and his pregnant partner Ana Varslavane.
Drogheda gang boss Price – who was heavily involved in organised crime and is suspected of being responsible for at least six murders including that of tragic Willie and Ana – died from a brain disease in a Welsh hospital on Sunday.
The stricken gang boss – who was behind much of the chaos in the lethal Drogheda feud that claimed four lives – fled to the UK in 2020 from his “enclave for criminality”, a fortified compound in Gormanston, Co Meath, shortly after the gruesome murder and dismemberment of Drogheda teen Keane Mulready-Woods.
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Price’s arch-enemy – slain serial killer Robbie Lawlor – murdered and dismembered the teen in January 2020 and Price fled as there were threats on his life.
While in the UK Price, who was named in the High Court as a leading member of the Price-Maguire gang and a major drug dealer supplying the north-east region of the country, was facing a trial for his alleged part in a kidnap and blackmail plot.
However, in October 2021 he was struck down after suffering the brain disease limbic encephalitis and never stood trial. Now, as his family and the underworld come to terms with the gang leader’s passing, Price’s daughter Alisha has sensationally claimed that her 41-year-old dad and his associates had “nothing to do with” the murders of Willie, 34, and Ana, 21, in 2015.
Alisha, who contacted this reporter on Thursday, also claimed that the person responsible for killing the couple is “a major Dublin drug dealer” who is still out there. “My dad took William Maughan under his wing to help him,” Alisha said.
“My father and his associates had nothing to do with it [the murders of Willie and Ana],” she added.
Read more: Irish mob boss Cornelius Price dies after long illness
Alisha has also revealed to us that despite funeral plans being underway – the family is still unsure whether his remains will be brought back to Ireland or if he will be buried in the UK.
However, she said, “we’re 99 per cent sure it’s Balbriggan” where his funeral will take place in the coming weeks.
We can also reveal for the first time a photograph of a smiling Price with his arm around tragic Willie Maughan taken several years ago while the pair were on a night out. The image, which has never been published before, shows the pair smiling and laughing together in what appears to be a social venue.
Despite what his family say, gardai believe Willie and Ana were murdered by Price and his associates because Price’s gang feared Willie may have had information about the murder of Benny Whitehouse in 2013. The couple were last seen alive on April 14, 2015 at Price’s compound.
Price is also suspected of murdering Benny in November 2014 in a dispute over the drugs trade. Moments before their suspected murders, Ana rang Willie’s mother Nell’s phone crying for help, according to interviews with Willie’s parents.
Despite numerous searches over the years, tragic Willie and Ana’s bodies have never been recovered. Now that feared gang boss Price is dead, the Maughan family and gardai are hoping those involved will now come forward with information.
A high-security policing plan is expected to be put in place for the gang boss’s funeral – if it does take place in Ireland within the coming weeks.
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