A GARDA document expert has told the trial of a Cork man charged with laundering £3 million that she has been unable to reach any conclusive results regarding what was on three notes recovered in a Garda investigation, other than what was visible to the naked eye.
Sgt Louise Hickey was attached to the handwriting and document analysis centre at Garda headquarters when she was given 1,134 £20 notes.
These notes had been recovered by gardaí investigating what had happened to money stolen in the Northern Bank Cash Centre robbery in Belfast in 2004.
Sgt Hickey told the jury at Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday how she had used two pieces of highly advanced examining equipment to examine branch brands on two £20 notes and to examine a date stamp on another £20 note.
Cross-examined by Alan Toal, for Ted Cunningham, Sgt Hickey said her examinations were inconclusive as regards identifying the branch brands on two of the notes, while she had not been able to identify a date on the third note.
Mr Cunningham (60), Farran, Co Cork, denies 20 charges related to money laundering, including one of possessing £3,010,380 at Farran between December 20th, 2004, and February 16th, 2005, knowing or believing the money to be the proceeds of robbery at the Northern Bank Cash Centre in Belfast.
