Majority direction for Anglo jury

The jury in a fraud trial of three Anglo Irish Bank directors over a multimillion loans-for-shares scheme has been told it can return majority verdicts.

Sean FitzPatrick, 65, from Greystones, Co Wicklow, Pat Whelan, 51, of Malahide, Co Dublin, and William McAteer, 63, of Rathgar, Dublin, all pleaded not guilty to providing unlawful financial assistance to a hand-picked group of clients in July 2008 to buy shares.