THE 2004 robbery of some £26.5 million from the Northern Bank in Belfast received saturation media coverage for several days afterwards, a money-laundering trial has been told.
Supt John Gilligan of the Garda Press Office told Cork Circuit Criminal Court that the robbery on December 20th was covered extensively with front-page stories in the papers and frequent mention on all main radio and TV news bulletins.
"On December 22nd, 2004, the Northern Bank robbery story appeared on the front page of four national newspapers, the Irish Independent, The Irish Times, the Irish Examinerand the Irish Daily Mail. In addition it appeared on the internal pages of other papers," he said yesterday.
“On December 23rd, 2004, it was on the front page of four national papers again. For each of the days following the original breaking of the story it received extensive coverage . . . it received extensive coverage in the dailies and Sunday papers for up to 10 days.”
The exact amount of money taken in the raid on the Northern Bank Cash Centre was not known at first and earliest reports carried figures varying from in excess of £20-£30 million, he said.
The robbery was also covered extensively on RTÉ television and radio with the story being reported on the television news bulletins at 6pm and 9pm as well as on radio programmes such as Morning Irelandand News at One, he said.
Supt Gilligan was giving evidence on the fourth day of the trial of Ted Cunningham (60), Woodbine Lodge, Farran, Co Cork, and his son Timothy Cunningham (30), Church View, Farran, who are charged with money-laundering.
Ted Cunningham denies 20 charges of money-laundering while Timothy Cunningham denies four charges of money-laundering between December 20th, 2004, and February 16th, 2005, knowing certain money to be the proceeds of the Northern Bank robbery.
