Irishman whose firm hired digger is linked to Mitchell

The Crooked House pub was torn down without permission, using a digger hired out by Morgan McGrath

The Crooked House pub was torn down without permission, using a digger hired out by Morgan McGarth

A convicted Irish drug dealer linked to an international trafficking ring involving George ‘The Penguin’ Mitchell is at the centre of a massive controversy over the destruction of a 200-year-old pub.

Company director Morgan McGrath’s firm hired a digger that was used to demolish the 18th century The Crooked House pub in Staffordshire, England, after a fire, provoking an outcry.

He also shares a number of company directorships with the new owners of the pub, Carly and Adam Taylor, which was gutted by fire 15 days after its sale this month and then demolished with machinery two days later.

Morgan McGrath

McGrath previously featured in the Sunday World almost 20 years ago when he was jailed for 12 years for his part in a conspiracy to import €22.5 million of drugs into Ireland.

The Tipperary native built secret compartments in trucks that were used to ship so-called ‘poly-loads’ of drugs across Europe.

The man behind the operation, also a Tipperary native and previously dubbed ‘Krusty the Clown’, used a plant hire company as a front for his multi-million euro business.

He is believed to have acted as a facilitator for some of Europe’s major drugs gangs and was linked to George ‘The Penguin’ Mitchell.

Drugs were shipped from Spain and the Netherlands to the UK and Ireland, often containing various drugs to boost profits.

The Crooked House pub was torn down without permission, using a digger hired out by Morgan McGrath

The outfit is thought to have adapted at least six truck trailers with the special compartments designed to conceal the illicit cargo.

During McGrath’s trial at Monaghan Circuit Court, a Garda officer gave evidence that the secret compartments required a great degree of skill to construct.

The compartments had also been sealed with lead to prevent their contents showing up under X-ray equipment used at ports.

The cargo of drugs that led to McGrath’s conviction was found by police in Belgium and contained 590,000 ecstasy tablets, 198 kilos of cannabis, 48 kilos of heroin, 132 kilos of amphetamines and 600,000 tamazepan tablets.

At the time the seizure at Kortrijk was one of the biggest by police in Europe and came after a Garda operation to target a number of rogue trucking companies in the border in Louth and Monaghan.

The demolished Crooked House pub near Dudley, West Midlands

A business premises at Mullanstown near Ardee, Co. Louth, had been kept under surveillance for several days and vehicles and people known to the gardai were observed entering and leaving.

A lorry and trailer were seen leaving for the continent and a follow-up investigation led to the seizure of a second similar trailer near the French border in Belgium with the cargo of drugs.

When approached this week in the UK by The Times, which first highlighted McGrath’s criminal background, McGrath denied any knowledge of what happened to The Crooked House pub.

When asked about his criminal past he said: “I don’t see what my past has to do with anything. Every sinner has a past, every saint has a future.”

Police in Staffordshire are investigating the destruction of The Crooked House as arson.

The pub was a well-known Black Country landmark known as Britian’s ‘wonkiest pub’ caused by subsidence linked to mining in the area.

It caught fire 15 days after being bought by ATE Farms, a company controlled by Carly Taylor, 34.

Her husband, Adam Taylor, 44, is a former director of the company that runs the landfill site next to the pub.

McGrath and the Taylors, who have not made any public comment on the controversy, are not suspected of acting illegally.

South Staffordshire council are also conducting an investigation into the demolition of the entire building without permission.

The pub’s destruction has prompted calls for a ‘Crooked House law’ to protect other pubs from the same fate.

There have also been demands to ensure the pub is rebuilt and protest by locals upset by the demolition of the beloved boozer.