Cork money mule sentenced after judge rejects 'Father Ted defence'

Money-launderer's claim was described as 'almost as laughable as Father Ted saying the money was resting in my account'

'To suggest that young Irish adults are naive is naive,' Judge James McNulty said in Bandon District Court, going on to say: 'Accordingly, the Father Ted defence is not sustainable,' referring to the character Fr Ted Crilly played by Dermot Morgan in the TV series 'Father Ted'.

A graduate student who allowed his bank account to be used in a 'money mule' offence in which a solicitor lost €100,000 has received a jail sentence after a judge said "the Father Ted defence is not sustainable".

David Sheehan, a 23-year-old from Mill Hill, Distillery Rd, Bandon, had pleaded guilty to an offence under Section 7 of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010, having allowed his bank account to be used in an operation which defrauded the solicitor of €100,000, with more than €43,000 of that being dispersed into bank accounts, including in Pakistan.