Retired garda John Murphy jailed for possessing cannabis

A retired garda (Irish police) superintendent has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison for possessing cannabis worth almost €260,000 (£226,700).

John Murphy, 62, from Clontarf in Dublin pleaded guilty after the drugs were found at his home and car in September 2021.

The court heard that he owed more than €850,000 (£741,000) at the time.

His lawyers said he was a functioning alcoholic whose judgement was clouded.

Dublin Criminal Court heard that Murphy wanted to apologise to his family and An Garda Síochána for the hurt and embarrassment caused.

Sentencing him, the judge said he was not an innocent abroad and should have known better.

He said he should have been able to withstand the temptation of easy money.

The jail sentence was backdated to October 2021, when Murphy first went into custody.

A police inspector from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation said that as a result of information received, Murphy's home in Dublin was searched on 29 September 2021.

Eight bags of cannabis herb were seized. One was found in a wardrobe and seven more bags were found in a coal bunker.

More cannabis was found in a bag in the back seat of Murphy's car.

CCTV footage obtained by gardaí showed Murphy at a County Meath industrial estate collecting the bags subsequently found at his home.

In total almost 13kg of cannabis was found, valued at just over €259,000.

The court heard that during questioning, Murphy took responsibility for the drugs found and apologised.

'No midas touch'

His lawyer said Murphy fancied himself as a business person but had "the opposite of the midas touch" and any investment he made went down the drain.

He had invested €300,000 (£261,500) in taxi plates which were immediately deregulated. His investment was worthless and he had to remortgage his home.

He owed €129,000 (£112,400) to friends and family, including €29,000 (£25,300) he had borrowed from one of his sons and €10,000 (£8,700) from one of his brothers.

He said his fall from grace, 10 years after retiring from the force with 30 years service, should not mean any extra punishment for him.

In his sentencing, the judge said it seemed Murphy was holding drugs for someone else for some type of financial reward.

As a retired member of An Garda Síochána, he knew exactly what the criminal behaviour was, the judge explained.

He said that he deserved a prison sentence but his early guilty plea meant he would reduce this from the mandatory minimum of 10 years to six-and-a-half years.