Adam Clayton’s former personal assistant must wait to hear the outcome of an appeal against her conviction and seven-year sentence for theft from the U2 bass guitarist.
Carol Hawkins (51), originally from north London but with a last address at Lr Rathmines Road, Dublin, was jailed in 2012 on 181 counts of theft from two of Mr Clayton's Bank of Ireland accounts over a four-year period from 2004 to 2008. The thefts totalled €2,869,274.
In the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday, Ms Hawkins appealed her conviction and sentence on multiple grounds including inadequacies in the disclosure process of her trial, the refusal to exclude witnesses from court during cross-examination and the admission of prejudicial evidence against her.
Kenneth Fogarty SC, for Ms Hawkins, said the privacy afforded to Mr Clayton during the trial in 2012 “effectively hamstrung” Ms Hawkins’s defence.
In opposing the appeal, Colm O’Briain BL, for the DPP, said Mr Clayton gave an account of his relations with Ms Hawkins over a number of years.
The three judges reserved their judgment “in light of the importance of the points raised”.