The leader of a notorious Irish crime gang has died in a Welsh hospital. Cornelius Price is believed to have been behind the ruthless murders of Willie Maughan and his pregnant partner Ana Varslavane in Ireland nearly eight years ago. Their bodies have never been found.
Price, 41, was the leader of a dangerous crime gang that operated out of Gormanstown, County Meath in Ireland and which had close ties to one of the sides in the recent Drogheda feud. The Irish Mirror reports that the Gardai in Ireland have been notified about Price’s death in the UK where he had been suffering from limbic encephalitis and in a gravely ill state in a Welsh hospital since late 2021.
It had previously been reported that Price had been living in the Midlands in England but moved to Wales more recently. It has been reported he was in hospital in Cardiff. He was due to stand trial in London charged with conspiring to falsely imprison and blackmail two men in July 2020 but the trial was adjourned after it was heard he had been seriously ill in intensive care since late 2021.
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Reports claim Gardai believe Price was directly behind the ruthless murders of couple Maughan, 34, and his pregnant partner Varslavane, 21, on April 14, 2015. Police believe Price ordered their murders and the subsequent disposing of their remains in order to protect his drug empire. The couple were last seen on Price’s heavily fortified compound in Gormanstown before it is believed their remains were cremated.
The remains of the couple have never been recovered and Price is said to have frequently boasted about the couple’s murder and claimed that their bodies would never be found. Gardai suspect Maughan and his girlfriend were killed because they had too much information about the murder of another man suspected to have been killed by Price's gang.
In an affidavit recently filed with the High Court as part of a Criminal Assets Bureau case against another mobster, a Garda detective inspector said: “It is my belief that members of the Price-Maguire [organised crime group] carried out the double murder. Both William and Anastasija were last seen alive at a property belonging to Mr Price.”
Last month, another Irishman Darren McClean - a close associate of Price - was convicted of two charges of conspiracy to blackmail and one of conspiracy to falsely imprison after a two month trial at Wood Green Crown Court in London for his role in a kidnap and €337k (£330k) blackmail plot. McClean was the only one out of five alleged associates of Price who was found guilty following a lengthy trial. Price had been charged with conspiring to falsely imprison and blackmail the two brothers in July 2020 but his trial was adjourned indefinitely due to his ill health.
Price — whom Gardai believe was a key figure in one of the two gangs involved in the Drogheda feud (a bitter gangland feud sparked by a split in a drugs gang) — fled to the UK following a wave of violence in Drogheda. He is believed to have close ties to another Drogheda mobster. It was that feud that led to the horrific murder of Keane Mulready Woods, a teenager murdered in January 2020, whose death reportedly prompted Price to get directly involved and seek revenge. Price’s mob went to war and sought out those they believed responsible - chiefly mobster Robbie Lawlor, who Gardai believe murdered the teen and who was himself shot dead in Belfast in April 2020.
Price had a long history of run-ins with the law. In February 2017 he was found guilty of endangering a garda at Balbriggan Garda Station and was sentenced to three years' imprisonment. In May 2019, Price was released from prison after serving a three-year-sentence for reckless endangerment of a garda in which he drove a car at the officer, and later took a ferry to the UK. He was believed to have then spent time in Bulgaria in eastern Europe before returning to Ireland and eventually fleeing to the UK again at the height of the Drogheda feud.
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