THE May Bank Holiday weekend was the time for a bizarre riot at a Balbriggan pub which saw dozens of men effectively take over the pub in a siege that resulted in tens of thousands worth of damage. The pub was shut for months following the incident but was to rise from the ashes at the end of the year with a new look and a new name - The Millrace.

In June, gangland crime visited Lusk after gardaí made the grisly discovery of a shallow grave in Ballough which held the body of a 34year-old man from Finglas who had been shot in the head.

The victim was later named as Paul Smith, from Dunsink Drive in Finglas who also had an address in Dunleer, County Louth.

It is understood that Mr Smith was shot in the head and that the weapon was a handgun. Gardaí believe the Finglas man was shot elsewhere and was taken to Ballough to be dumped.

Smith's brother-inlaw was the drug dealer and armed robber, Paul 'Farmer' Martin, that was shot dead in a gangland hit in the Jolly Toper pub in Finglas in August of 2008. Among suspects for the Martin murder are criminals from Finglas who assumed control of the gang once led by Martin 'Marlo' Hyland, who was murdered in December 2006.

It is believed that Paul Smith had threatened to avenge the killing of his brother-in-law and was aware that his life was in danger for some time. That same month, the county capital was brought to a standstill by the funeral of 20-yearold Avril Flanagan, who had been brutally murdered in Spain. The Flanagan family moved to Alicante four years previously, having sold their home in Broadmeadows, and hundreds of neighbours and friends attended the young woman's funeral in St Colmcille's Church.

Avril, known as 'Abbey', had been living in Cabo Roig for three years up to the time of her tragic and violent death.

In September, tiger kidnapping came to Lusk when a young bank official and her husband were abducted from their home in Dun Emer estate by a criminal gang. The woman was abducted and was later forced to withdraw a sum of money from the Bank of Ireland branch in Coolock village. Her husband was bundled into a white van and driven to west Dublin, while she left the money in a goldcoloured car at an agreed drop-off point at nearby Greenwood Avenue.

In October, there was shock in Applewood estate in Swords as the body of a man in his 20s was discovered dead in a white van parked on the estate.

Distraught relatives arrived on the scene in the hours after the grisly discovery and identified the body and gardaí said they were not seeking anyone in connection with the death.

A local witness told the Fingal Independent: 'I saw his face and I was just in shock. Everyone feels sick - it's just awful.' November saw a brutal sawn-off shotgun attack on a Balbriggan home in Pinewood estate that left three people wounded and in hospital.

All three victims were taken to Beaumont Hospital where they received treatment for their wounds. None of the injuries are lifethreatening although the male victim has a serious wound to his leg. There was also a baby in the house at the time of the shooting but it escaped injury and was not in the part of the house where the shooting took place.