“I was scared for my family and afraid my house would be petrol bombed. I was terrified,” Patricia Connor told gardai during interviews
Patricia Connor
A grandmother who laundered just over €60,000 in criminal proceeds on behalf of the Boylan Organised Crime Group has avoided a custodial sentence after a court heard she acted out of fear and was preyed upon by those involved.
Patricia Connor (44), of Moneymore in Drogheda, Co Louth, was handed a two-and-a-half-year suspended prison sentence at Dundalk Circuit Court on Friday after pleading guilty to two counts of money laundering between October 2022 and June 2023. She has no previous convictions.
The mother-of-three and grandmother-of-one told gardai she felt she had “no choice” but to move money for the gang and feared the consequences if she refused.
“I was afraid. If I said no, I didn’t know what would happen,” Ms Connor said during garda interviews following her arrest in June 2023. I was scared for my family and afraid my house would be petrol bombed. I was terrified,” she said.
She also admitted handling money for Keith Boylan, telling investigators: “I only moved money for Keith Boylan,” adding that she did it to help pay household bills as she had “no electricity or gas.”
Keith Boylan at court(Image: Supplied)
Keith Boylan (30) of Moneymore in Drogheda, was named in court last year by a garda witness in a money laundering case as head of the crime group of violent thugs involved in drug dealing and the Drogheda feud. His brother Josh (26) was named as the group’s ‘second in command.’
The brothers have been on-the-run overseas since January 2020, the court heard. When gardai suggested the funds were the proceeds of criminal conduct, Ms Connor accepted this.
Detective Garda Niall McManus told the court the case formed part of an ongoing investigation into the Boylan Organised Crime Group, which is involved in the sale and supply of drugs in Drogheda.
He said this strand of the investigation focused on laundering money for senior members of the gang who are currently abroad and “out of the reach of gardaí for the time being”.
L-R: Keith and Josh Boylan.(Image: Supplied)
The court heard Ms Connor was a long-time family friend of the Boylans and that investigators examined two bank accounts held in her name – one with Bank of Ireland and another with Ulster Bank.
The Bank of Ireland account showed 42 cash lodgements between October 2022 and May 2023 totalling €29,415.
A further 35 transfers amounting to €23,650 were made to a former member of the Boylan organised crime group.
Some of the funds were used to pay for flights and Airbnb accommodation overseas, which gardai believe facilitated the movement of Keith Boylan.
In total, €55,147 was lodged to and withdrawn from the Bank of Ireland account, while a further €5,013 passed through the Ulster Bank account bringing the total amount laundered to €60,160.
The court heard Ms Connor was unemployed and in receipt of social welfare payments at the time of the offending.
Det Gda McManus agreed with defence counsel that Ms Connor “gained minimally” from her reckless actions and was “taken advantage of.”
Testimonials from friends who spoke well of Ms Connor were handed into court as well as a letter of remorse.
In sentencing Ms Connor to a two-and-a-half year sentence which Judge Dara Hayes suspended in full, the judge said: “It is serious offending for members of the organised crime group who are overseas and beyond reach of gardai.
“She funnelled money through her accounts to them.
“She acted out of fear and she was vulnerable and preyed upon,” the judge said.
“This is a case where she was taken advantage of and it is appropriate to suspend the two and a half years,” the judge said.
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