A former second-hand car salesman has been found guilty of money-laundering for a Dublin criminal currently jailed in England.
James Naylor (37), Forest View, Pine Forest Road, Glencullen, was remanded on continuing bail by Judge Michael White at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for sentence later.
The jury convicted him on two charges of having vehicles "which represented another person's proceeds of drug dealing", and one charge each of possession of €22,000 and of €31,340 "which represented another person's criminal activity". The crimes happened from March 2001 to July 2002.
Naylor was acquitted by the jury of one charge of possessing motor vehicles "without lawful authority" from August 1st, 2002, to June 1st, 2003.
Earlier, Judge White directed the jury to find him not guilty also on two other charges of laundering the proceeds of crime and drug trafficking.
During the eight-day trial, he had pleaded not guilty to all seven charges of laundering the proceeds of criminal activities on dates between March 2001 and June 2003.
The jury's guilty verdicts were by a 10-2 majority following almost six hours of deliberations and a night in a hotel. Judge White excused the eight men and four women from further jury service for 10 years.
Dominic McGinn, prosecuting, told the jury that Naylor was a second-hand car dealer with premises in Rathfarnham who had a business arrangement with Michael Byrne, who was involved in various criminal activities, including drug dealing and handling stolen vehicles.
Byrne bought expensive cars with the proceeds of crime and gave them to Naylor to sell through his legitimate car dealership. The jury had to decide what Naylor knew about Byrne's activities.
Byrne, with an address at Finnstown, Lucan, was arrested in January 2002 at Dover ferry port in England in possession of a large amount of cash. He was later convicted of money-laundering and jailed for six years.