Glen Clarke with his mum Carol Darcy
THE MOTHER of a young man left to die in a car before Christmas, with a fatal gunshot wound to the right eye, this week blasted Garda claims her son injured himself while on his way to carry out a gangland killing.
Carol Darcy – the mother of Glen Clarke – broke down this week as she told us: “I swear on my son’s ashes he was no gangland killer.”
Carol has demanded Gardaí carry out a full and thorough investigation of her son’s death, saying: “He didn’t shoot himself. I believe my son was murdered.”
Glen (26) – originally from O’Devaney Gardens in Dublin – was discovered lying unconscious with a gunshot wound to his right eye in a stolen car in the Riverdale Estate in Leixlip, Co. Kildare, on December 2.
He passed away in Blanchardstown Hospital in Dublin a day later.
The father-of-two’s family were only coming to terms with the shock of his death when it emerged last weekend that investigators probing his deamise were claiming he had been on his way to carry out a ‘hit’ for the Kinahan Cartel when he was shot.
Sources behind the report claimed their suspicions were based on the fact the young man was wearing a boiler suit when he was found – a claim his mum and sisters this week described as “a lie”.
The same sources said they “did not know” who it was they were alleging Glen had been on his way to kill.
“None of what has been written about my Glen is true and I’d swear that before God,” Carol told us.
“Glen didn’t work for the Kinahans. He was on social welfare.”
Recalling the moment gardaí arrived at her door to tell her Glen had been shot, a heartbroken Carol continued: “I answered the door and I can’t remember exactly what he said, except it was something like: ‘Your son got shot.’
“I actually thought it was Glen at the door first when I was running down to answer it.
“And when they said that, that my son had been shot, I just collapsed on the stairs.
“He’s the second son I buried and I don’t believe he shot himself, no way in the world. I believe he was murdered. He didn’t do that to himself.”
Asked whether Glen had been acting strangely in the run up to the day of the shooting, Carol insisted: “No, not at all. He borrowed €1,000 from the loansman to buy the kids’ presents before Christmas.
“He has a five-year-old son and a six-month-old daughter. So, like, if he was working for them [the cartel] he would have had money and wouldn’t have needed to do that.”
Glen’s sister, who kept a vigil at his bedside in the wake of the shooting, said that when she went to see her brother in hospital she learned he had sustained a gunshot wound to the right eye.
“When the police came back up here, they told us someone had left him there in that car to die,” she said.
“So they think someone was with him and left him there to die.
“And he wasn’t in a boiler suit, that’s another lie. They said he was wearing dark clothes when they found him.
“And they never said nothing about the car being stolen.”
Carol continued: “Glen passed away the following day. They said his heart, his lungs, every part of his body was perfect, but it was the effect on his blood pressure that killed him.
“He wasn’t even on a life support machine or nothing, but they had ice on him because his blood pressure was after going so high.”
Asked why Glen would have been in Leixlip that day or whether they can think of any reason someone would have wanted to shoot him, Carol shakes her head.
“Glen told me everything and there was no-one after him, he’d no enemies.”
Asked about reported links between her son and the murder of innocent Trevor O’Neill in a case of mistaken identity in Spain last year, Carol insisted this could not be true.
“Glen hasn’t been out of the country in two years,” she said. “The last time he was out of the country was when him and his girlfriend got their teeth done in Turkey two years ago – because they were all chipped and the front one was cracked from the boxing.
“Glen would have his son on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and he’d have his little girl on Friday and Saturday and he’d go out with his girlfriend on Saturday night.
“He was looking forward to Christmas and he was just looking forward to going into town on the Friday to get the kids their stuff.
“Glen wasn’t perfect, he had a bit of a temper and if he liked you he liked you and if he didn’t he just wouldn’t talk to you.
“I don’t know where all this is coming from.
“The Gardaí haven’t come near us since all this stuff came out at the weekend. They’ve told us nothing.
“But Glen loved his children and he’d never have got involved in gangland crime because he wouldn’t bring that to our door. He never ever brought trouble to our door.
“He’d take his sister’s car or silly things like that and he’d get in trouble if he was drinking… but it was all stupid stuff. He was never in any trouble with drugs.”
Sources this week confirmed to the Sunday World that the gun found in the stolen Opel Zafira, in which Ken was discovered, has undergone ballistics tests. The car itself had been stolen in Blanchardstown in October.
Detectives have been unable to identify any potential targets in that specific estate where Glen’s body was discovered.
“I think the clues to who killed my Glen are still in that car,” said Carol.
“Somebody killed him, there’s no way in the world he did that to himself.
“Someone murdered him and that’s what the Gardaí should be investigating. All I’ve left of my son is his ashes in this urn. I want to know who did this to him.”
Gardaí have appealed for anyone with information to contact them on 01-6667800.