Drogheda man convicted of killing Slane gamekeeper jailed for moneylaundering offences

The man convicted of killing Slane Castle gamekeeper, Tim Kidman in 1989 was jailed for three and a half years after pleading guilty to a moneylaundering charge at Dundalk Circuit Court.

Fifty five year old Michael Hodgins, Pearse Park Drogheda pleaded guilty to committing the offence in June 2020.

The court heard the defendant had not been at home when gardai carried out a search of his home on 5th June 2020.

During the search €322,055 was found in two briefcases and a tin hidden under a step held in place by two magnets.

There were 12 bundles of notes in the cases and 8 bundles in the tin the court was told.

Judge Dara Hayes was told the defendant was arrested two days after the search but nothing of evidential value was obtained when he was interviewed by gardai.

The court heard the defendant had a number of previous convictions and had been jailed in 1990 for the manslaughter of Mr Kidman the previous year. He had also been sentenced to nine years in 2005 for the sale and supply of drugs.

A reference on behalf of the defendant handed into court acknowledged he had made mistakes in his life but described him as having a hard work ethic and being an excellent role model for his young son.

The judge described the hiding place for the money as “clearly a place of concealment designed for that purpose”.

Judge Hayes said there had been no explanation of where the money had come from or why the defendant had it but the clear inference was that “he had it for the assistance of criminality”.

The judge said the previous manslaughter conviction was not relevant to the current case but the drug dealing conviction was relevant and was “associated with serious criminality”.

Judge Hayes set the appropriate headline sentence in the case at five years which with mitigation he reduced to three and a half years backdated by a week for time already spent in custody.