Clayton gives evidence at trial

U2 star Adam Clayton has started to give evidence against his former personal assistant accused of embezzling €2.8m of his funds.

Taking to the stand, the bassist joked he was not used to being in front of a microphone.

“I’m more of a ’dum, dum, dum’, but I will practise my technique,” said the musician, who has been a member of U2 for 30 years.

His former PA, Carol Hawkins, is on trial for stealing cheques from the bassist over a four-year-period.

The 48-year-old, from Lower Rathmines Road in Dublin, worked for Clayton for 16 years from 1992.

The mother-of-two listened attentively as Clayton, dressed in a navy jacket and grey shirt, was questioned about their working relationship and details of his bank account.

The defendant was a signatory on two of his accounts.

It was from these accounts that Ms Hawkins stands accused of drawing 181 cheques and lodging them into her own bank and financing a lavish lifestyle.

Prosecution barrister, senior counsel Colm O’Briain, previously told the Circuit Criminal Court in Dublin that Ms Hawkins lodged the money into her own personal account, a joint account with her then husband John Hawkins and a credit card account, between 2004 and 2008.