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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
National
John Hand

Thug boasts from prison about upcoming release and 'catch up' with gang boss

A thug has been boasting on social media from behind bars about his upcoming release and a “catch up” with a gang boss.

Michael Jones is set to be freed from Mountjoy Prison this week and is to reunite with vicious criminal Jason O’Connor.

Jones was sentenced to five years behind bars in January 2019 after a jury found him guilty of dangerous driving causing the death of father-of-two Hong Qing Qu on November 17, 2015 in west Dublin.

Read More: Wife will 'never forgive' man who killed husband in Dublin crash as he's released from jail after three years

Jones, known as “Mikey”, ploughed into him after breaking a red light and driving around twice the 60kmh speed limit.

But he will now walk out of the jail where he was working as a cleaner on the C1 landing after serving over three and a half years, due to remission.

We can reveal how prison chiefs were last week made aware that Jones had been posting on social media accounts.

In a recent one, he uploaded a snap of him and O’Connor.

And he wrote: “Old but gold. Nearly there. Can’t wait for a catch-up mate.”

Jones and his close pal “Jay” enjoyed each other’s company in Mountjoy until O’Connor’s release in February 2021 after serving a sentence for a knife attack on a man in a pub.

Jones had previously used social media under a fake name during his stint and posted a snap of himself and shooting victim Lee Boylan after he was shot in Blanchardstown, west Dublin in March 2019.

Upon his release from prison, Jones is hoping to find employment.

Jones, 27, and his former boss Stuart Cromer, 43, were convicted of assault earlier this year over an incident in Harold’s Cross in April 2016.

Judge Martin Nolan handed down a four month sentence to Jones, of Whitestown Drive, Mulhuddart, Dublin, one which ensured he did not spend more time in prison on this offence.

Cromer, with an address at Hazelwood Avenue, Hartstown, Clonsilla, Dublin was given a six-month suspended sentence.

The court was told that Jones was hoping to work for Cromer again upon his release.

Although Jones’ legal representatives told he expressed remorse for his actions, the victim’s wife Li Liu last week said she could “never” take an apology from him.

Li Liu also told The Star that the sentence he received is “very hard to accept” .

Speaking from her west Dublin home, she told us: “It’s really unfair. He was only 33.”

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