Drug dealers’ ‘bookkeeper’ caught with €115k avoids jail

A WOMAN who was caught with more than €115,000 in cash, while acting as a bookkeeper for serious criminals, has received a five-year suspended sentence.

Judge Gerard Griffin acknowledged that Janet Morrissey, 35, was ‘ripe for exploitation’ by criminals as she had a cocaine addiction and heavy debts at the time.

Morrissey, a single mother with an address in Meile An Rí Drive, Lucan, Co. Dublin, was found by gardaí with €9,670 in cash in her coat pocket outside her home in Lucan on April 4, 2016.

A further €108,130 was found in a wardrobe in her bedroom.

She pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of €117,800 in cash, which was the proceeds of crime. She has no previous convictions.

Judge Griffin said Morrissey provided an ‘essential service’ to drug dealers.

But he noted her co-operation and said she was unlikely to come to the attention of the authorities in the future.

He further acknowledged that she was now drug-free and had a full-time job.

The judge said he had given particular consideration to a letter written by Morrissey’s father when suspending the sentence and asked the man, who was present in court, to keep an eye on her.

He suspended the sentence for five years, saying to Morrissey: ‘If we see each other again, it won’t be a happy experience.’

Morrissey told gardaí she had been given a phone by a man called ‘Craig’ and that she collected money from various people when she received texts from a person she called ‘Boss’. She then sorted it in bundles of €5,000 and €10,000.

She told gardaí she had been doing this for four or five weeks, although the ledger showed it had been going on for longer, the court heard. The court heard Morrissey was paid €600 a week for handling the cash.