sentence was activated and he was jailed for the first time on 23 May 2000. Witness intimidation Byrne tried to intimidate Doyle on several occasions. First he offered €50,000 to her to not testify, with a threat to kill her if she testified. She refused to take the bribe. Further threats forced her to leave her home after it was shot at. There was a plot to murder her - an INLA gunman was asked to kill her to prevent her testimony. She lived in B&Bs and hotel accommodation under an alias and was virtually penniless. She was not included in a witness protection programme. After she testified she was badly injured in an assault in the corridors of the Four Courts. Her testimony was a major factor in Byrne's conviction and two years were added to the four year sentence which after remission amounted to four and a half years. The sentences were initially to run concurrently but the Court of Appeals decided they should run consecutively. Crumlin-Drimnagh feud Two months before Byrne was first jailed, three members of the gang Byrne was involved with were arrested at the Holiday Inn in Pearse street. Two of them were charged, but the third, Declan Gavin, was released without charge. A bitter row ensued over whether Gavin had informed on the others. Gavin was a close friend of Byrne. The gang split into fwo factions: one headed by Brian Rattigan and one headed by Freddie Thompson and Declan Gavin. After Byrne was jailed, the dispute turned violent. In March 2001 Christy Kinahan was released from prison. He wanted to avoid the Criminal Assets Bureau, the feud and to be closer to the European cocaine wholesale market. He moved to Spain a few months later. Within weeks of Kinahan's departure Brian Rattigan had fatally stabbed Declan Gavin. The feud would lead to 13 fatalities and last a decade. Byrne was eventually released from jail in November 2004. Byrne organised crime He is the current head of the Byrne organised crime group, which is a branch of the Kinahan gang founded by Christy Kinahan. It was then led by Freddie Thompson, then by Liam. After his release from prison he and Thompson frequently visited Kinahan in southern Spain. Kinahan supplied them with drugs and they oversaw the distribution and debt collection with help from Kinahan contacts. During 2007-2008 Freddie Thompson got involved with