First picture of garda killer Aaron Brady behind bars…

First picture of garda killer Aaron Brady behind bars as he welcomes his parents

Smiling garda killer Aaron Brady welcomed his parents to his prison abode as we reveal the first picture of the thug behind bars.

The snap - taken at Portlaoise Prison in recent weeks - shows the clean shaven smug murderer in a red t-shirt with his arms around his father Tony and mother Caroline, grasping her hand.

It is the first time the 31-year-old - serving a 40 year sentence for the capital murder of brave Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe - had any physical contact with his relatives in over two years.

Brady, from Crossmaglen, Co Armagh, had been in an isolation wing of the prison which meant he was separated from visitors with perspex when they came to see him. And our picture is the first of him since he was extradited from the US and snapped outside Dundalk court in May 2017 over a stolen car offence.

Brady is jailed in Ireland’s only maximum security prison which houses some of Ireland’s most dangerous criminals including fellow killers Thomas “Tossy” Fox, Fat Freddie Thompson and Warren Dumbrell.

Fox is serving life for the murder of Gareth Hutch in 2016 while fallen Kinahan mob enforcer Thompson is inside for the killing of Daithi Douglas in the same year. Dumbrell is also caged for the shocking murder of Christy Cawley in October 2006.

Brady has taken up education courses as well as meditation behind bars. A source said: “This individual doesn’t cause any bother. He’s like many lifers who just get their head down and get on with it.”

In August 2020, Brady was convicted for shooting Det Gda Donohoe dead at Lordship Credit Union in Co Louth on January 25, 2013. The brazen liar was caged for 40 years for the capital murder while he was also sentenced to 14 for the €7,000 credit union robbery, which runs concurrently.

Evil Brady, prisoner 74326, had initially been in Dublin’s Mountjoy prison but was transferred to Portlaoise in October 2020. In that same month, the criminal launched an appeal against his conviction over the capital murder of Det Gda Donohoe in a raid.

It is understood that Brady’s defence team will learn of the date of his appeal hearing before Christmas. But Brady is also facing more charges and is to stand trial in the non-jury Special Criminal Court for plotting to pervert the course of justice.

Following the murder of father-of-two Det Gda Donohoe, 41, Brady was quickly identified was chief suspect but fled to the US in April 2013 in a bid to evade cops and build a new life for himself.

But, unknown to Brady, gardai liaised with US cops who put the hood under surveillance. And his new life crumbled when police arrested him and had him extradited back to Ireland in May 2017.

He was jailed for six months over a stolen car offence after being hauled home before being charged over the murder in March 2018.

His trial kicked off in January 2020 and over 28 weeks, it heard from 138 witnesses that in the end convinced the jury that Brady lied when he got into the witness box and denied being at Lordship on the night of the murder. Circumstantial evidence built a case they could not ignore after also watching a horrifying CCTV video of the raid which lasted less than 60 seconds.

Businessman James Flynn, 31 and with an address of Raven’s Glen, Newry, is currently before the Special Criminal Court accused of the robbery at Lordship Credit Union nine years ago.

Brendan Treanor, 34, with a previous address at Emer Terrace, Castletown Road, Dundalk, Co Louth, is also charged with participating in the robbery.