A garda and property dealer has given evidence that former solicitor Thomas Byrne never passed on a €1.87m cheque which was intended to pay off a property loan.

Struck-off solicitor Thomas Byrne was charged today with stealing more than €2m from clients in connection with the purchase of an apartment building in Dublin.

Eamonn Lillis told gardaí that his wife, Celine Cawley, was a ‘tough nut’ and would have confronted the burglar who he said he found attacking her before she died, the Central Criminal Court heard today.