Men sentenced for the manslaughter of Paul Brady

Daniel Jones and Michael Dunphy

Two men from Manchester have been jailed for a total of 21 years after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Paul Brady following his disappearance in Bacup in 2009.

Daniel Jones and Michael Dunphy were sentenced on Friday (11 November) at Preston Crown Court having also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap.

Jones, 28, of HMP Forrest Bank, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and Dunphy, 38, of no fixed address, was sentenced to 11 years.

Both men were originally charged with murder, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the fourth day of their trial at Preston Crown Court in October and these pleas were accepted.

Paul Brady, 44, of Rochdale was kidnapped from the Beaufort Road area of Weir, Bacup on Saturday 1 August 2009.

Despite a major police investigation with extensive enquiries and numerous searches to find Mr Brady, his body has never been found and detectives believe he was killed and his body disposed of following his kidnap.

Another man, Paul Devalda, 35, of Padiham Road, Burnley, was found guilty of murder and conspiracy to kidnap following a nine week trial at Liverpool Crown Court back in March. He was sentenced to life in prison and told he must serve a minimum of 21 years for murder before he will be considered for parole.

Dunphy was arrested together with Devalda in London, attempting to take flight and leave the country on 9 August 2009. Dunphy was interviewed and later released on police bail but failed to answer his bail and left the country. A warrant for his arrest was issued.

On 4 April 2011, an intelligence led operation resulted in Dunphy’s arrest when he was stopped by police whilst driving a car in Greater Manchester. He was brought to Burnley Police Station where he was charged.

At the time of the offence Daniel Jones lived at a cottage in Waterfoot and was identified as a suspect as a result of enquires.

It is believed that Jones left Bacup in early August 2009, shortly after Paul Brady was kidnapped and murdered. Enquires revealed that during this time he was in constant and very regular contact with Paul Devalda. Jones was tracked down by detectives in Spain and in December 2010 an application to extradite him to the UK was successful. Jones was immediately taken into custody for an offence of conspiracy to rob a Jewellers in Cumbria in 2008 for which he had been sentenced to 5yrs and 10 months in his absence. He was also charged with the murder of Paul Brady.

Detective Superintendent Neil Hunter from the Force Major Investigation Team said, “This has been a very difficult and resource intensive enquiry, particularly as we have never recovered Paul’s body which brings with it its own challenges. It is one of the largest enquiries I have been involved with for a long time and we have followed up over 2,500 lines of enquiry.

“There was no doubt that this was a pre-meditated and well planned offence committed by a travelling organised crime group who are extremely dangerous, ruthless and violent criminals, in broad daylight on a Saturday afternoon in a very nice remote area in East Lancashire.

“I hope the family and friends of Paul Brady can find some sort of closure from today and that they can, in some small way, move on with their lives although this will be almost impossible until Paul’s remains have been found and we will never give up looking for him.”