North Belfast man caught with almost £34,000 in cash related to son’s drug dealing sentenced

A North Belfast grandfather caught with almost £34,000 in cash relating to his son’s drug dealing was handed a 12 month sentence suspended for two years on Thursday.

Belfast Crown Court heard Eamon McGrath was only apprehended in June this year after going on the run for seven years. Following his arrest, McGrath, 61, of Old Westland Road, pleaded guilty to a single charge of transferring criminal property to the value of £33,730.

The court heard police stopped McGrath behind the wheel of a Ford Focus car on the M1 between Sprucefield and Moira just before midday on May 16, 2017.

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Prosecution barrister David McNeill said in the rear seat of the car was a pink carrier bag which contained the cash in £1,000 bundles. McGrath claimed he was taking the money to a hotel in Armagh on behalf of his son to buy catering equipment.

Searches were carried out at McGrath’s home and an adjacent property and one kilo of herbal cannabis was found in two wheelie bins close to his mobile home.

A fingerprint belonging to his son Matthew McGrath was found on one of the £20 notes and his fingerprints were found on 26 different areas of the drug bags. Matthew McGrath was arrested the following day and in January 2019 he pleaded guilty to possessing the drugs and received a 15 month sentence suspended for two years.

Mr McNeill confirmed to the court that through Eamon McGrath’s plea he was accepting the money he had was the proceeds of crime, adding there was no evidence it was going to be used to buy catering equipment. He told Judge Mark Reel that a week later the defendant was released on £5,000 High Court bail before absconding the following month and being unlawfully at large for the next seven years.

The court heard McGrath had come under threat following his first court appearance in May 2017 and “cut off his electronic tag” and went to both Spain and England to work in the construction industry. A defence barrister said McGrath is now suffering from both mental health and alcohol addiction issues since this time on the run.

Judge Reel said McGrath was “engaged in transferring criminal property and the sum involved was reasonably significant and he claims his son inveigled him into this enterprise”.

He added: “The court accepts his son was the leading operator in this enterprise given his plea to the substantive drug offence. This defendant played more of a role akin to a courier within a drugs gang. His role within this drugs business operated by his son was moving the money which represented the proceeds of that business.

“The court is satisfied that the defendant was moving money which was the proceeds of drug sales. This places him in a lower rank within the organisation than his son.”

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