Criminal Assets Bureau seize house of woman who claimed she made money acting as escort
The house, which Mary Cash bought for €100,000 and without a mortgage, was declared the proceeds of crime by the court last year
This is the moment officers from the Criminal Assets Bureau took control of a house – bought by a woman who said she made her money from acting as an escort.
CAB officers made the move against the house owned by Mary Cash in Co Laois after they were given the green light by the High Court in recent weeks. Mrs Cash had been told by the court that the house, at Harpur’s Lane, in Portlaoise, had to be vacated by Monday – and CAB took control of it on Monday morning.
The house, which Mrs Cash bought for €100,000 and without a mortgage, was declared the proceeds of crime by the court last year. CAB is now set to sell it – and it could go for more than €230,000 on the open market.
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Mrs Cash had denied the CAB allegation that the house was bought from the proceeds of crime. She said she made the money for the house from working in Australia, as an escort and cleaner.
But CAB alleged in court last year that Mrs Cash’s husband, Andrew, as well as her brother Henry Kiely, are gang members heavily involved in burglaries throughout the island of Ireland. CAB officers also told last year’s hearing that new floors and a front door had been fitted to the house – despite the couple’s modest means.
In April, Mr Justice Alexander Owens granted CAB control of the house and told Mrs Cash she had to vacate it by Monday. In January, the Court of Appeal said Mrs Cash, 32, nee Kiely, offered “no convincing explanation” for the source of funds to buy the property. The High Court had found a “singular lack of engagement” by her with the CAB evidence and her excuses to be “totally unpersuasive”.
In its case brought under the Proceeds of Crime Act, CAB alleged Mrs Cash’s home was purchased mortgage-free in 2018 with proceeds derived from burglaries allegedly carried out by her husband and her brother, neither of whom was subject to the CAB proceedings.
Mrs Cash argued her home was bought with monies earned from her work as a cleaner, childminder and escort while she was in Australia with her husband in 2015. Her lawyers said she used cash daily, which is not illegal.
Mr Justice Owens found her “half explanations” for the source of funds to buy the house and luxury goods “simply did not hold water”. He found, on the balance of probabilities, the home and other assets represented the direct or indirect proceeds of crime and made orders freezing them.
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