SENTENCES FOR COUNTING DRUG GANG MONEY UPHELD

Jail sentences imposed earlier this year on an elderly couple and their
daughter for counting drugs money for a criminal gang were affirmed by the
Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday. Yvette and Patrick Warren, (both 69), of
Heatherview Lane, Tallaght, Co Dublin, were sentenced to 18 months' jail at
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Their daughter, Nicola Cummins (26), of
Clonfert Road, Crumlin, Dublin, was sentenced to 12 months while her
husband, Brian (26), was jailed for eight months. None of the four had any
previous convictions.

The four applicants were granted bail last March, pending their appeals
against severity of sentence. After affirming the sentences yesterday, the
Court of Criminal Appeal decided the resumption of their sentences would not
begin for a fortnight.

The Circuit Criminal Court had heard how the Warrens were hired to count
large bags of cash by Nicola's brother, Russell, who was described as an
"accounts clerk" for the criminal gang. In that court Judge Dominic Lynch
said the Warrens "provided a link in the chain of distribution of illegal
drugs".

The operation, in which more than pounds 1.5 million was counted, began in
May 1996 and ended some months later when gardai raided the Warrens' home.
Russell Warren was jailed for five years.

Giving the judgment, Mr Justice Murphy said the appeal court had sympathy
with all the applicants. They had been drawn into "this appalling situation"
by the wrongdoing of a very close relative, Russell Warren.

It was a tragic situation for them, but the appeal court could not see that
the trial judge had erred in principle, he said.

The judge said the appellants had been convicted under a section of the
Criminal Justice Act which, broadly speaking, had introduced the offence of
money laundering.

The particular transaction involving the Warrens was the handling or
counting of monies knowing them to be the proceeds of crime. The sums
involved were substantial, varying between pounds 50,000 and pounds 100,000.
Cummins's involvement was delivering pounds 10,000 to a person at a car
park.

Statements made by the applicants explained that Russell Warren brought sums
of money to his parents' house where it was counted. The family recognised,
if not immediately, then very quickly, that they were the proceeds of some
form of wrongdoing and some form of crime.

The judge said the applicants had made a comprehensive statement of
admission to the gardai. They obtained negligible financial gain and it
might well be they did not appreciate the seriousness of the crime in which
they were involved. It was accepted by the gardai that there was no reason
to suppose any of them would be involved in crime again.

While counting money may appear an innocuous operation, it involved handling
money which was at the heart of the machine which ran the "industry" of
crime, the judge added. This was not a case of an isolated crime.