Jury sworn in ahead of Northern Bank case

A JURY was sworn in for the trial of a Cork financial adviser and his son who are accused of laundering more than £3 million arising out of the investigation into the 2004 Northern Bank robbery.

Timothy Cunningham, aged 60, of Woodbine Lodge, Farran, Co Cork, appeared at Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday on a total of 20 charges of money-laundering arising from an extensive garda investigation into the robbery of £26.5m from the Northern Bank in Belfast on December 20, 2004.

His son, Timothy John Cunningham, aged 33, of Church View, Farran, Co Cork, denied two similar charges.

Judge Cornelius Murphy asked the jury of eight men and four women to return to the court on Tuesday, January 20, for the commencement of the trial, which could take up to 12 weeks.

Prosecution senior counsel, Tom O’Connell, said: “My own view is that it could take half that time.”

While Mr O’Connell will not open the case until 10.30am on Tuesday, he did speak to the jury panel before the jury was selected: “It is a notorious fact that on December 20, 2004, £26.5m was robbed from the Northern Bank situated at Donegall Square West in the city of Belfast. The accused in this case are accused of laundering part of that money so stolen in the bank robbery.”

He told the 100 or so members of the jury panel that they should not serve on the jury if they knew either of the accused or had any dealings with Timothy Cunningham’s money-lending company, Chesterton Finance. He also told them they should not serve if they knew any of the key witnesses in the case, including Dan Joe Guerin, who operates a car dealership in Ballincollig, Co Cork, and John Sheehan, a property developer in Cork city.

The principal charge against each man is of possessing more than £3m between December 20, 2004, and February 16, 2005, at Farran, knowing or believing it represented the proceeds of the robbery at the Northern Bank Cash Centre, Donegall Square West, Belfast.

The second charge against Cunningham Jnr is that he had transferred €200,000 in cash to a named individual on January 21, 2005.

The other charges faced by Cunningham Snr relate to the transfer of various sums of cash and cheques to others and transferring a number of cars with the intention of concealing or disguising its source.

These alleged offences were committed in Tullamore, Co Offaly, and in Co Cork.

Every charge in the case – whether it refers to cash, cheques or cars — is one of money-laundering.

Up to 250 witness are listed but lawyers may be able to agree to fewer witnesses.

In a light moment before the swearing in commenced, Judge Cornelius Murphy said that the prosecution and defence lawyers were entitled to object to jurors being sworn in for unspecified reasons.

“Sometimes they object because people are too well-dressed or they look too intelligent, so if you are challenged [by one of the lawyers] take it as a compliment,” Mr Justice Murphy said.