The High Court has ruled that bank funds and cash linked to John Gibson, who was shot dead in a gangland killing in 2017, were derived from drug dealing and can be restrained under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The Criminal Assets Bureau sought a section 3 order over credit balances exceeding €83,000 in Bank of Ireland accounts at Leixlip and College Green, together with €5,440 and €4,130 in cash previously seized from Gibson.
Gibson died intestate on 18 September 2017. His two young children became entitled to his estate, and their mother, Marlene Walsh, was appointed to represent it in the proceedings.
The estate argued that CAB’s application was barred by section 9(2) of the Civil Liability Act 1961, which imposes a shortened limitation period on certain claims surviving against a deceased person’s estate.
Mr Justice Alexander Owens rejected that argument. He held that proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act are not ordinary private-law claims against an estate. Instead, they ask the court to determine the status of property itself — specifically whether it represents proceeds of crime.
The judge accepted CAB evidence linking Gibson to organised drug dealing in West Dublin. Cash seized from him was connected to drug activity, while investigations found no plausible legitimate source for the bank balances.
The court also found that purported salary payments from Body Fitness Studio Limited in Lucan did not represent genuine earnings. Large cash lodgements had been made to the company from locations around the State, Gibson’s stated rate of pay exceeded normal fitness-instructor earnings, and there was no objective evidence of work justifying the payments. The arrangement was described as a money-laundering exercise designed to give Gibson an apparent legitimate income.
The court found no serious risk of injustice and held that a section 3 order must be made over the four identified assets.