BMW-buying pair apply for legal aid

Two brothers facing charges of conspiracy to commit theft have had their application for legal aid refused by Judge Frank O’Donnell at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Alan (aged 35) and Wayne Bradley (aged 30) both bought new BMW X5’s months after being charged with the offence and they collectively owe €362,000 in unpaid taxes and penalties as assessed by the Criminal Assets Bureau.

Alan Bradley of Churchfields, Kenstown, Co Meath and Wayne Bradley of Ratoath Road, Finglas, Dublin, are facing trial next year on the charge of conspiracy to commit a crime, relating to the €2m theft of cash at Tesco’s, Shackleton Road, Cellbridge on November 2, 2007.

Defence counsel for both men claimed that they did not have the "means" to pay a legal team for their upcoming trial, which is expected to last six weeks, and said if refused legal aid they would be forced to defend themselves.

Judge O’Donnell said that "obvious questions jump out" from both applications and that he was "totally in the dark" to how CAB could make such demands of both men, based on the details of their income that were presented to him.

"There must have been other income not disclosed to me," he said.

He said that Alan Bradley had a "decided reluctance on his part to answer any questions a court needs to know".

"His response in relation to the purchase of his BMW of ‘surely I can’t be expected to stop living’ was extraordinary."

Judge O’Donnell said that there were also "huge questions" in relation to the BMW X5 "gifted" to Wayne Bradley and there was "a touch of Tír na nÓg" around the unidentified person who gave it to him.

He said that Wayne Bradley was receiving "huge money altogether" in stud fees compared to the €4,500 he paid for his three horses and that he provided no documentation to back this up.

Judge O’Donnell heard at an earlier hearing, that Alan Bradley, a former horse dealer, owed €180,000 following CAB judgements, while Wayne owed €182,000.

Alan had a share in a Spanish property with three others along with his family home, while Wayne owned two Dublin properties. Both their defence counsels submitted that the houses were now in negative equity due to the current economic climate.

The court heard that Wayne Bradley, a former car dealer, paid €4,500 for three stallions and earns €2,000 per month in stud fees. His partner gets €1,300 per month as a home help.

The judge was told that Alan Bradley "doesn’t use banks", earns €1,600 per month and his wife is in receipt of social welfare payments in the form of disability allowance and for acting as her father’s carer.

Alan told Mr Sean Guerin BL, prosecuting, that he had been a part-time horse breeder but that three of his stallions had been stolen just before his arrest.

He confirmed that he received €21,168 in a personal injury claim three months after he was charged with the offence and then paid €10,400 off a €73,000 car loan for the BMW his wife had purchased earlier that month.

Alan Bradley accepted under cross-examination from Mr Guerin (Mr Sean Guerin BL, prosecuting), that he owed €180,000 for tax, interest and penalties in relation to his income between the period of 1994 and 2004, but could not explain where the money was that had given rise to that liability.

"I don’t know. You are going to have ask CAB about that," Mr Bradley replied and when pressed again by counsel as to where the rest of the money was, he answered: "What money?"

Mr Bradley confirmed that he owned a property in Spain but said he was one of four people - including his wife and her parents - who bought it for €220,000 in 2007. He claimed this figure included the solicitor’s fees relating to the sale.

He said that the mortgage was currently being paid by an English couple who are renting the house.

Mr Bradley acknowledged that a statement supplied by Permanent TSB and showing just one lodgement of over €20,000 since November 2007, related to his only Irish bank account.

He said that he earned €1,600 per month and he handed this to his wife to pay for bills such as their €600 a month mortgage. He said he did not use banks.

His wife was not working but received a disability allowance and carer’s allowance. Mr Bradley could not confirm the exact amount she received.

Mr Bradley agreed he had initially made an application for free legal aid in the District Court in November 2007 having been first charged with the offence that month.

He accepted that this application was later withdrawn but denied this had been because he could not supply the necessary documentation in relation to his bank accounts and a horse breeding business. He said he could not recall the exact reason for its withdrawal.

Mr Bradley told Mr Guerin he had been a part-time horse breeder and three of his stallions had been stolen just before his arrest.

He claimed that the "glass was shut in my face" when he went to his local station to report the theft but Mr Guerin pointed out that an affidavit he had supplied to the court stated he had reported the crime shortly after he was released from his initial arrest.

Mr Bradley replied he had since discovered his horses are in England and said he was going to deal with that himself.

"I have my own ways of getting them back. I know friends at those fairs and they’ll pop up again," Mr Bradley said.

Mr Lorcan Staines BL, defending, said that his client has yet to pay the CAB bill but is obliged to do so in the next 12 months and anything he earns in the meantime would have to go towards discharging that.

Mr David Staunton BL, defending Wayne Bradley, told Judge O’Donnell his client owed €182,000 in unpaid revenue and he owned two properties and three horses as well as his BMW but that when he was asked what means he had to pay his legal fees Mr Bradley replied: "Nil".

Mr Staunton said Mr Bradley purchased his BMW by trading in an older model, which had been gifted to him by an unidentified "benefactor".

His trade in was valued at €40,000 by the car dealership and he made up the balance of the purchase by selling another car and taking out a loan for €40,000. He said the car was now valued at €35,000 after it was involved in a serious accident last November.

Mr Staunton submitted that Mr Bradley was self-employed as a car dealer and recovery agent until his arrest in relation to the Tesco robbery.

His stringent bail conditions thereafter, where he was required to sign in at his local garda station twice daily, made it very difficult for him to run a business where he needed to be on call. Counsel said that this issue, combined with the adverse publicity relating to his arrest, led him to quit his business.

Mr Staunton said Mr Bradley sold his recovery truck for €6,000, even though CAB had taken its logbook during their investigation, and he used the money to buy three horses at Smithfield Market for a total of €4,500. The horses provided him with an average income of €2,000 per month in stud fees.

Mr Staunton said Mr Bradley owned two properties, his family home at Ratoath Road which was recently valued at €225,000 and an investment property at Cherryfield Lawn, Clonsilla which was also valued at €225,000.

Both houses were "heavily mortgaged" and the Cherryfield Lawn property "is probably in negative equity given the current economic climate".

Counsel said his client had put this property up for sale because of the money owed to the State.

Mr Staunton said Mr Bradley had four bank accounts in his name. The first account had a credit balance of €3,189 and average deposits of just more than €3,000 were made to it each month.

These deposits were made up of the stud fees from his horses and a contribution from Mr Bradley’s partner who earned approximately €1,300 for her work with home help.

Counsel said the majority of this money was used to pay two mortgages, a car loan and other household utilities.

Mr Staunton added that the second account was a loan account taken out to pay solicitor fees in a libel action taken against the STAR newspaper, while the remaining two accounts held a total of just less than €500.