Hunger-striker to get documents back

GARDAI are to return personal documents seized from hunger-striking Irish woman Kathryn Nelson during raids carried out as part of money laundering investigations two years ago.

Arrangements were made by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) yesterday to dispatch to Ms Nelson’s residence in the Isle of Man a number of items, including several expired passports detailing her international travels over many years.

Ms Nelson, 57, who is originally from Athy, Co Kildare, began a hunger strike two and a half weeks ago to protest her innocence of involvement in the money laundering operation suspected to have followed the £26.5 million (€39m) Northern Bank robbery in Belfast in December 2004.

She was arrested in Ireland the following February after it emerged she had set up business meetings in Bulgaria for Cork money lender Ted Cunningham and former Government advisor Phil Flynn, both of whom had their offices raided during the investigations although they have not been charged.

She was released without charge but says a cloud of suspicion hung over her that ruined her reputation abroad and destroyed her business. She is seeking a public statement from the gardaí or the Government that she is no longer a suspect.

Ms Nelson confirmed that CAB had been in contact to arrange for the delivery of documentation but she said it appeared from the inventory that the bureau had mislaid a number of personal items including sheets of poetry and music.

She said she written the poems in the early 1990s while living in Libya where she worked as an English language teacher before setting herself up as a diplomatic liaison officer, providing services for business people seeking overseas investment opportunities.

“I can’t imagine what they ever wanted with my poetry or why they didn’t return it two years ago when they realised it had nothing whatsoever to do with bank robberies and money laundering,” she said.

Ms Nelson said she was also concerned about the whereabouts of a treasured letter of commendation written by the late English professor Augustine Martin after he assessed her work in the late 1980s. She was in dispute with the Vocational Education Committee in Co Kildare over the status of third level qualifications she had received from a college in England.

Ms Nelson’s (who has been taking only water since January 25) condition is being monitored.