Crime boss Michael ‘Bee’ Berry has €26,000 confiscated 14 years after ATM robbery
ATM bandit had been lodging thousands into frozen account
Michael ‘Bee’ Berry had cash and cars confiscated
Berry’s gang is suspected of several heists in the late 2000s
A convicted gang leader targeted in a major Garda operation has had €26,000 confiscated from him 14 years after using a digger to tear an ATM from the walls of a service station.
Michael ‘Bee’ Berry had been part of a notorious criminal gang based in Ballyfermot and Wexford suspected of several robberies across Ireland in the late 2000s.
He was jailed for five years after being found guilty of a well-planned heist in which the ATM was pulled from a filling station shop in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, and €205,000 stolen.
A protected Garda witness who had been part of the robbery gang gave evidence against Berry and his brother, Thomas Berry, who was also convicted.
During a Garda operation targeting Berry’s gang, cash was seized and a credit union account was also frozen along with another Bank of Ireland account.
This week an application was made at Wexford Circuit Court to have the money, which included €7,800 found in a sock in wardrobe during a Garda search, be forfeited to the State.
Berry had been one of five men involved in the ATM robbery in July 2009, of which he got a €41,000 share.
Berry’s gang is suspected of several heists in the late 2000s
Berry’s credit union account containing €13,249 was frozen around the same time, along with €5,013 in a Bank of Ireland current account.
He stated at the time that he had been drawing unemployment payments and had made some money selling horses.
Michael Berry, who was released from prison in 2015, has previous convictions for assault, theft and handling stolen property.
He was a close associate of murdered Ballyfermot brothers Kenneth and Paul Corbally before they were shot dead in June 2010.
Berry had also been known to have had links with Dee Dee O’Driscoll, the Corbally’s long-time criminal rival in the area.
Berry was arrested in July 2011 and charged over the Enniscorthy ATM raid and a spate of other similar crimes.
It later emerged Berry had lost thousands of euro after spending three months lodging money to an account that had been frozen by gardai.
The bank account was identified as part Operation Slope, set up to target Berry’s gang under anti-gangland legislation.
A total of 58 arrests were made during the operation and large amounts of cash and assets, including 4x4 vehicles, were seized.
Bank records showed that sums of between €30,000 and €50,000 were going through an account of one female gang member every month.
The Garda operation also uncovered a highly-sophisticated and extensive money-laundering operation between here and the UK.
Money was being used to buy and trade horses, caravans, 4x4 vehicles and other equipment.
