The robbery of some £26.5 million from the Northern Bank in Belfast received saturation coverage from the electronic and print media for several days afterwards, a money laundering trial heard today.
Supt John Gilligan of the Garda Press Office told Cork Circuit Criminal Court that the robbery on December 20th 2004 was covered extensively with front page stories in the papers and frequent mention on all the 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.
“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 at Donegall Square West, Belfast was not known immediately and the earliest reports carried differing figures varying from in excess of £20 million to up £30 million, he said.
The robbery was also covered extensively on RTE television and radio with the story being reported on the main television news bulletins at 6pm and 9pm as well as on radio programmes such as Morning Ireland and the News at One, he said.
Supt Gilligan was giving evidence on the fourth day of the trial of financial advisor, Ted Cunningham (60) of Woodbine Lodge, Farran, Co Cork and his son, Timothy Cunningham (30) from Church View, Farran, Co Cork who are both 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 monies to be the proceeds of the Northern Bank robbery.
The case continues.
