Aaron Brady was living a “very nice life” in New York before he was extradited back to Ireland, according to a US detective involved in his capture.

Brady was this afternoon found guilty of the capital murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe during an armed robbery in County Louth seven years ago.

He will be sentenced in October; however, he is facing a minimum of 40 years behind bars for the murder.

Speaking to LMFM this morning, retired New York Police Department (NYPD) Detective James Walsh said Gardaí asked for assistance locating Brady in the summer of 2015.

An NYPD car in Manhattan New York, 17-07-2013. Image: Sergi Reboredo/SIPA USA/PA Images

He said the Crossmaglen native appeared to be “very security conscious” when police put him under surveillance.

“He kept close to himself and his friends,” he said.

“He didn’t veer much from his schedule. He had a couple of bars he would visit but he didn’t talk much to many people besides his friends.

“He worked construction and that was it. He would never throw anything out in front of us. If he had a bottle of water with him, he always waited until he got home to throw it out – so he was very security conscious and very close to the cloth about his activities.”

He said police don’t believe he was aware he was being watched adding that he believes it was “just ingrained into him not to do those things.”

“I think he knew that he might be watched but really it was just the security culture that he may have grown up with,” he said.

Caroline Donohoe outside the Criminal Courts of Justice after Aaron Brady was found guilty of the capital murder of her husband Garda Detective Adrian Donohoe, 12-08-2020. Image: Leah Farrell/RollingNews

He said Brady was “living a nice life” in New York.

“He had a nice apartment, he got married when he was over here, he had a child, he was steadily employed; he seemed like he had a very nice life,” he said.

Detective Walsh was not involved in Brady’s arrest because it was a federal matter; however, he was invited to observe on behalf on the NYPD.

“When the murder of a police officer is involved, we take it very seriously,” he said. “We would help any agency.

“The Gardaí came over here, they were very professional, they gave us a lot of information and we worked hand in hand with them.

“There were many individuals besides myself involved in this and it worked out very well.”

Brady is due to be sentenced on October 14th.

Gardaí have warned that their investigation is ongoing as other suspects believed to have been involved in the robbery still need to be brought to justice.