Father and son deny laundering over £3m from Northern heist
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A FATHER and son have denied laundering some of the proceeds of the £26.5m (€29.4m) Northern Bank robbery.
Timothy “Ted” Cunningham (60) and Timothy John Cunningham (33) yesterday pleaded not guilty to a total of 24 charges of money laundering relating to sums in excess of £3m.
Ted Cunningham faces a total of 20 charges while his son, Timothy John Cunningham, faces four charges. The two men have addresses in Farran, Co Cork, though Timothy John Cunningham now resides in Bandon, Co Cork.
The court was told that Ted Cunningham operated as a money lender with his Corkbased business, Chesterton Finance.
State prosecutor Tom O’Connell, SC, told Judge Cornelius Murphy and the Cork Circuit Criminal Court jury of eight men and four women that the case could last up to 12 weeks. Jury members were told they would have to be free until Easter – with up to 250 witnesses listed.
Mr O’Connell said that the sums at the centre of the State’s case are alleged to be linked to the Northern Bank robbery.
Notorious
“On December 20, 2004 it is a notorious fact that £26.5m was robbed from the Northern Bank situated at Donegall Square West in the city of Belfast. The accused in this case are accused of laundering part of that money so stolen in the bank robbery,” he said.
Both men deny all the charges. Details of the 24 counts took 25 minutes to read out in court yesterday.
It is alleged that they, “knowing or believing that the property, that is to say sterling . . . representing the proceeds of criminal conduct, namely a robbery at the Northern Bank cash centre, Donegall Square, Belfast, on December 20, 2004, or being reckless as to whether it was or represented such conduct, used the said property”.
The main charge is that, between December 20, 2004 and February 16, 2005, at Farran, in Co Cork, the men had £3,010,380 in cash in their possession believing it to be, or being reckless as to whether it was, the proceeds of criminal conduct.
The charges were brought under Section 31 of the Criminal Justice Act (1994) and the Theft and Fraud Offences Act (2001).
The scale of the Belfast robbery was so great that the design of Northern Bank notes had to be changed by the British Treasury as an emergency measure.
The charges all relate to dates between December 20, 2004 and February 24, 2005. Apart from the main charge, other allegations against Timothy “Ted” Cunningham include the handling of a number of euro cheques, smaller amounts of sterling as well as three vehicles – a €10,000 Mitsubishi Pajero jeep, a €5,000 Honda Civic and €6,000 Nissan Pulsar car – believing them all to be the proceeds of the Northern Bank raid. Two of the charges relate to addresses in Tullamore, in Co Offaly.
The trial was adjourned until Tuesday, January 20 when the State will formally open its case.
