Jury considers Northern Bank heist money-laundering verdicts

The jury in the trial of a financial adviser accused of laundering money from the notorious Northern Bank robbery will enter its second day of deliberations today.

Irish state prosecutors claim Timothy “Ted” Cunningham knew that more than £3m (€3.2m) traced to him was from the December 2004 heist.

The 60-year-old, of Farran, Co Cork, has denied 10 counts linked to the dirty money racket which moved cash from Belfast to Cork.

The main charge is that he had in his possession £3,010,380 (3,205,454) at Farran between December 20, 2004 and February 16 2005, knowing or believing it to be the proceeds of a robbery at the Northern Bank Cash Centre in Belfast.

Gardaí claimed that, under interrogation, the money lender said it find was part of £4.9m (€5.2m) he was given from an unidentified male in a northern-registered car whom he met on four separate occasions.

But the businessman, who ran a firm called Chesterton Finance, maintained that £2.3m (€2.5m) discovered in a locked cupboard in the basement of his home on February 16, 2005 came from the cash sale of a gravel pit in Co Offaly to Bulgarian businessmen.

Throughout the 10-week trial at Cork Circuit Criminal Court – now on day 44 - he denied any involvement with the IRA, which was blamed for the robbery, or laundering money from the heist.

Yesterday the jury of five women and seven men deliberated for three hours and was told it had to be convinced the cash was from the £26.5m (€27.7m) heist.

Judge Cornelius Murphy said jurors had to use their common sense when reaching verdicts and warned them to put any sympathies they had for those involved out of their minds.

“In order to convict Mr Cunningham you have to be convinced beyond reasonable doubt and that he had possession of or used the money from the Northern Bank robbery,” he said.

“You have to be convinced in respect of each of each individual charge that each was from the Northern Bank robbery.”

The huge cash haul was stolen in the notorious bank robbery by a gang who kidnapped assistant manager Kevin McMullan and his wife Kyran, taking her to an undisclosed location while he was forced to steal the money.

The judge also told the jury to approach the case as dispassionately as possible.

“You may have considerable sympathy for various people in this case. You are to put those sympathies out of your mind,” continued Judge Murphy.

“The title of this is the People of Ireland against Mr Cunningham. It is not Northern Bank against Mr Cunningham and not members of the gardaí against Mr Cunningham.

“You are the balance of justice between the people of Ireland and the accused.

“The burden of proof of all the issues is on the prosecution to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.”