DUBLIN criminal Robbie Lawlor was allegedly driven to the scene of his assassination by a senior member of a well-known crime family, the High Court heard today.
A judge was also told that two people suspected of involvement in the killing in north Belfast have now left the country.
Details emerged as one of the men charged with the murder was refused compassionate bail to visit his newborn child.
Lawlor (36) was gunned down outside Adrian Holland's home at Etna Drive in the Ardoyne district on April 4 last year.
Originally from Dublin, Lawlor had been heavily involved in a bitter dispute between rival Drogheda-based factions.
Previous courts were told he may have travelled north because he feared he was going to be attacked as part of a deadly drugs feud.
But his assassination had already been commissioned three weeks earlier at a meeting in a Sligo hotel attended by an international drugs dealer, it has been alleged.
Neither Holland nor 45-year-old co-defendant Patrick Teer, of Thornberry Hill in Belfast, are accused of being the gunman.
Instead, they have been charged as part of a joint enterprise to murder, based on their alleged involvement in events surrounding the shooting.
As Holland sought temporary release from custody, a defence barrister described the case against him as "a masterpiece of circumstantial vagueness".
Joe Brolly told the court his client was at a relative's home on the day of the murder.
According to counsel the victim was brought to the location of the shooting by a man who is part of a well-known crime gang in the Republic.
That man has been interviewed and released by police, it was claimed, but his current whereabouts are unknown.
Mr Brolly also said a previous court heard two of the people suspected of involvement in the murder have absconded.
Natalie Pinkerton, prosecuting, clarified when they were thought to have moved overseas.
