A Galway man who was recruited to help launder £66,000 worth of travellers' cheques taken in an armed robbery in England has been given a two year suspended sentence by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Terence Kearns (31), from the Williamstown area of Galway and with an address at a Lynton Road, Kilburn, London, pleaded guilty in 1994 to handling the stolen cheques on September 22nd 1993. They were in various currencies.
The cheques were part of the proceeds of a robbery at a Thomas Cook branch in Harrow, Middlesex, in August 1993.
Kearns and a co-accused, John Murphy, also from the Williamstown area, were described as "mere pawns" in the operation. Murphy was also given a two year suspended sentence at an earlier hearing.
A person attempted to cash one of them at a bank in Lucan, Dublin, on September 21st 1993 but the cashier became suspicious and called gardai. This person left the bank but was arrested later that day and made a statement.