Clayton ‘absolutely astonished’ by PA’s €434k spend on horses

Adam Clayton expressed his “absolute astonishment” when it was discovered a €434,000 was spent by his former PA Carol Hawkins on horses and horse expenditure, a court heard.

The U2 guitarist told the trial of Carol Hawkins who is accused of stealing almost €3m from him, that he has “no interest in horses or gambling” so the money spent on horses was not for his benefit and he had no knowledge of this spending.

Hawkins, aged 48, of Lower Rathmines Road, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 181 counts of theft from two of Mr Clayton’s Bank of Ireland accounts over a four-year period from 2004 to 2008. The alleged thefts totalled €2,869,274