Bookkeeper caught with €115,000 cash 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 Janet Morrissey (35) was “ripe for exploitation” by criminals as she had a cocaine addiction and heavy debts at the time.

Morrissey (pictured), a single mother with an address in Meile An Ri 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 her bedroom.

She pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of €117,800 in cash, which was the proceeds of crime. She had no previous convictions. Judge Griffin said Morrissey provided an “essential service” to drug dealers. But he noted her cooperation and said she was unlikely to come to future Garda attention. He further acknowledged she was now drug free and had a full-time job. The judge said he’d given particular consideration to a letter written by Morrissey’s father when suspending the sentence. He suspended the sentence for five years, saying: “If we see each other again, it won’t be a happy experience.”

In a letter handed up to court, Morrissey said she had been “existing, not living” but was now turning her life around.

“I am a work in progress,” Morrissey wrote in the letter, saying she attends AA meetings three times a week.