Woman who laundered money for crime group avoids jail

A 31-year-old mother of three who "got in over her head with serious criminals" has avoided jail after admitting to laundering money for an organised crime group in Drogheda.

Amy Rooney, with an address at Newtown Meadows, Drogheda, pleaded guilty last October to one money laundering offence relating to a total of more than €34,000.

The court previously heard that the prosecution arose from an ongoing garda investigation into the funding of the Boylan organised crime group, who are involved in organised crime in the Drogheda area.

Detective Garda Niall McManus gave evidence that Amy Rooney had laundered money at the direction of that organised crime group.

The offending happened over a period of eight months between 2020 and 2021, and a total of €17,243 was lodged into her Revolut account.

A sum of €17,120 was then transferred from the account into accounts controlled by Keith Boylan and Craig Coyle.

Both men have previously been named by gardaí before the court as members of the Boylan organised crime group, along with Keith Boylan's brother Josh Boylan.

The court heard that Amy Rooney was a former partner of a now deceased member of the crime group.

It was agreed that she was in fear of her then partner and was "under the thumb".

During a garda interview, Rooney read from a prepared statement in which she admitted they were her accounts but said they were used by her former partner "under very serious threat of intimidation".

She told gardaí she had been in a "toxic relationship" with a man who had "made her life a living nightmare".

She said she had been assaulted, threatened and abused by her former partner, who she described as a "monster".

Gardaí agreed with her defence counsel that Rooney appeared to have been acting "under the thumb" of her former partner and was in fear of the organised crime group.

The court heard the mother of three has no previous convictions and there was no suggestion that she gained personally from the offences.

The court previously heard that Rooney's plea was accepted on the basis that she had been reckless.

She was assessed as being at a low risk of reoffending.

During a sentencing hearing before Dundalk Circuit Court, Judge Dara Hayes said the amount of money laundered was "relatively small", but that it was still of "significant assistance to the OCG".

He said that Rooney was "not a naïve young woman" and had not been approached by strangers, but instead knew the criminals.

He said it was clear she was in fear of her then partner and his associates, and that did play a role in her offending and it "appears she got in over her head with serious criminals".

Amy Rooney was given a two-and-a-half-year sentence, which was fully suspended.