Dublin man denies having false motoring documents

A DUBLIN man accused of having false driving licences, insurance certificates and motor taxation discs has gone on trial at Dublin…

A DUBLIN man accused of having false driving licences, insurance certificates and motor taxation discs has gone on trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

James Meleady, Ballybough Road, Fairview, has pleaded not guilty to having 16 forged documents at his home on February 27th, 2006.

He denies having six "blank and false" Irish driving licences, a "false driving licence" in the name of another man, three "false motor tax discs" and six blank "fake FBD" insurance certificates.

Det Garda Denis Ellard told Martina Baxter, prosecuting, that as a result of information from a confidential source, a search of Mr Meleady's home uncovered the items. He said the six blank driving licences were "just paper and not laminated as genuine licences" would have been.

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The details on an "insurance disc" recovered were "all blank", with no details of vehicles or names. "There's also no perforated edge where the disc should be removed."

Det Garda Ellard told Seán Guerin, defending, that he could not say how many bedrooms were in the Ballybough Road house.

Garda Declan Sherlock said the majority of the alleged forgeries were found in the kitchen, along with a roll of tape bearing harp seals and green wavy lines.

Det Garda Geraldine Butler, a counterfeit documents expert, showed the jury blown-up copies of the alleged forgeries and similar copies of genuine documents.

She said the printing on the suspect tax discs was inferior to that on genuine discs, which were produced using printing plates.

"The recovered items were produced on a laser printer and are counterfeit."

She told Ms Baxter the six recovered blank "licences" lacked "the watermark and ultraviolet features" found on genuine licences.

The trial continues.