Unemployed partially blind man on benefits who stashed thousands of euro in socks is jailed

A man who stashed tens of thousands in crime cash inside his socks and a jacket while claiming disability allowance and paying no tax has been jailed for three years by the Special Criminal Court.

Mr Justice Paul Burns, presiding in the three-judge court, said Dermot McManus had used money that was the proceeds of crime over a number of years for his own benefit.

He said there was no evidence that he did so on behalf of an organised criminal group and held that the offending was in the lower end of the mid-range.

Having set a headline sentence of five years, the judge considered McManus's guilty plea and the fact that he is blind in one eye and suffers from Crohn's disease.

The judge sentenced McManus to four years with the final 12 months suspended on condition that he be of good behaviour. The court also ordered the forfeiture of cash seized by gardai and a Mercedes Sprinter van.

In July last year, McManus (53), of Keating Park, Killalee, Co Limerick, pleaded guilty to three charges relating to money laundering offences.

The defendant's arrest followed what gardaí described as a “significant development” in Operation Coronation, which targeted organised crime in Co Limerick.  

In September 2021, gardaí carried out 65 raids in the county as part of the same operation, involving soldiers, detectives, customs officers and over 300 local gardaí, with 12 people arrested.

At a sentencing hearing last year Detective Garda Chris McGrath, from Henry Street Garda Station, told Dominic McGinn SC, prosecuting, that the money laundering charges arose from a search that took place at the defendant's home address at Killalee on June 17, 2020.

The detective said information received from the Revenue Commissioners and social welfare showed that McManus was unemployed at the time of the search and on a single rate of disability allowance of €230 per week.

Prior to this, the court heard, McManus was on job seekers allowance and had been last employed in 2002.

Det Gda McGrath said McManus' annual income on the date of the offence was short of €10,962. He said the defendant was not registered as a sole trader and had no history of paying tax.

The detective said a warrant was issued to search McManus' home address and that substantial amounts of cash had been found.

Some of the amounts, he said, which totalled €28,550 and £11,795 were discovered in two separate socks as well as a jacket pocket in the wardrobe of the defendant's bedroom.

During the search, the detective said, McManus accepted he had lived in the house with his partner and two children. He also accepted the mortgage on the house had been paid off.

Det Gda McGrath said the defendant claimed he had worked for himself trading cars and had been out sick.

"He accepted all the cash was his and claimed €9,550 was from working in markets and that €10,000 was from the sale of a van," said the witness.

Mr McGinn said the prosecution's position was that the monies derived from criminal conduct and not from market trading or trading in cars, which the witness agreed with.

The detective said it transpired from the search that the defendant had a credit union account which was set up in 1998. Enquiries were made by gardai and a freezing order was placed on the account, which had a balance of €10,173 at the time.

Det Gda McGrath said the defendant had made frequent lodgements into the account and the total amount of the lodgements was €59,032.

The total amount of withdrawals amounted to €53,591. 

"The coincidence with the lodgements is that withdrawals took place quickly afterwards which is a sign of money laundering," said counsel.

Mr McGinn said McManus was also in possession of a Mercedes Sprinter van in June 2020, which had a market value of €10,500.

Gardai found the previous registered owner of the van was a man that the defendant had known for just over a month, the court heard.

The detective said that gardai had observed the van parked outside the defendant's home since early 2020. The defendant claimed he had bought the van from someone in Northern Ireland for €4,500, continued the witness.

At the end of the search McManus was arrested and interviewed by gardai, where he accepted that he owned the house and had paid off the mortgage.

He repeated to detectives that he was unemployed, had worked in a market selling quilts and pillows and had received a sick benefit of €190 a week. He also accepted that he didn't pay taxes.

The court heard that McManus has 22 previous convictions. At a previous hearing it was said that McManus was convicted of burglary but the prosecution today accepted that McManus was in fact convicted of receiving property that had been stolen during a burglary.

McManus pleaded guilty to handling sums of cash worth €28,550 and £11,795, knowing or believing or being reckless as to whether this was the proceeds of criminal conduct on June 17, 2020.

Between January 1, 2018, and June 17, 2020, the defendant admitted he handled or used money credited to an account in his own name at the Limerick and District Credit Union, knowing or believing or being reckless as to whether it was the proceeds of criminal conduct.

McManus also pleaded guilty to handling a white Mercedes Sprinter van between June 2, 2020, and May 23, 2021.