Son confessed to gardaí in February

THE son of convicted Ted Cunningham had confessed to gardaí the £3 million at his father’s house came from the Northern Bank robbery.

Timothy John Cunningham’s admission came on February 5, a fortnight into the money-laundering trial at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

He had pleaded not guilty to the charge on January 14 when the jury was sworn in to hear the trial. However, he had a change of view during the trial and asked to be re-arraigned.

While the trial of his father continued, the media was barred from publishing Timothy John Cunningham’s guilty plea until Ted Cunningham’s case was completed.

Timothy John Cunningham, aged 33, of Church View, Farran, Co Cork, pleaded guilty to a money-laundering count, the particulars of the offence being “between December 20, 2004 and February 16, 2005 at Farran in Co Cork, knowing or believing that property, that is to say sterling cash to the value of £3,010,380, represented the proceeds of criminal conduct, namely a robbery at the Northern Bank cash centre, Donegall Square West, Belfast, on December 20, 2004 or being reckless as to whether it was or represented such conduct, possessed the property”.

Cunningham jnr was remanded on continuing bail for sentencing on April 24.

A fingerprint of Timothy Cunningham jnr was found on black tape stuck to a Dunnes Stores plastic bag full of sterling discovered during a search of a basement. That was one of the few pieces of evidence referring directly to Cunningham jnr.

Fingerprint evidence was given by Detective Garda Gerry McGrath of the Garda Technical Bureau. He testified about the forensic analysis of a number of items found at the home of Ted Cunningham, including a brown reusable plastic Dunnes Stores bag containing bundles of sterling. On black tape at the bottom of this bag, a fingerprint of Cunningham jnr was found.