The man shot dead outside his home in East Wall last Sunday was arrested for drink driving just 24 hours before his death and was using two versions of his name.

The Sunday Tribune has learned that a warrant for the arrest of 50-year-old Aidan O'Kane (Ó Catháin) on a drug possession charge was not executed by gardaí because he used both Irish and English forms of his name.

O'Kane was facing a possible 10-year sentence after he was caught in possession of IR£200,000 worth of cannabis in Phibsborough in 1994. But he fled the country before he was due to stand trial. It is understood he has been detained on at least four occasions since he returned to Ireland four years ago after serving six years of an 11-year sentence in Cuba for drug dealing.

Each time he was arrested he alternated between using the Irish and English versions of his name.

A warrant for his arrest on the drugs charge is believed to have got lost when the Pulse record management system was introduced a number of years ago, replacing the old paper system. O'Kane served a lengthy sentence in the 1980s for drug dealing in this country and had amassed over a dozen convictions, mainly for drink driving.

Last Saturday, O'Kane was arrested on suspicion of drink driving and was taken to Store Street garda station and was later released without charge.

In an interview with the Sunday Tribune, O'Kane's son Dillon (25) confirmed that his father was taken into custody.

"The clutch was gone in the car he was driving and he ended up breaking a red light. The gardaí saw he was driving all over the road and arrested him and took him to Store Street. But he wasn't drink driving and he was released after a couple of hours and they gave him his car keys back. He'd stopped drinking three weeks before, but he didn't have a problem with drink anyway."

It has also emerged that O'Kane's wife was found dead in their home 23 years ago after a heroin overdose.

The murder victim's son said that his father had been getting his life back in order when he was shot dead. He had some setbacks in his life. His wife died and he didn't see me grow up. But for the last two years, he's been back on track. He was a happy man when he died."

A 16-year-old has been char-ged with O'Kane's murder.