Two women linked to the Drogheda drugs feud have been given suspended jail terms after admitting money laundering offences connected to one of the organised crime groups operating in the town. The case has drawn attention because the total funds involved were far larger than the individual sums in each charge, with the court hearing that their accounts were used as part of a wider laundering network connected to gang leaders Keith Boylan and Josh Boylan .
The women, Leah Smith, 27, and Niamh McManus, 39, appeared before Dundalk Circuit Court after previously pleading guilty to laundering money through Revolut accounts in their own names. Smith admitted laundering €14,100 between July and September 2020, while McManus admitted laundering funds between February 2021 and April 2022. The court heard that almost €22,500 passed through McManus’s account, with most of it ultimately ending up in Dubai .
According to the court report, gardaí detected the offences after investigating bank accounts held or controlled by the Boylan brothers, who are regarded as leading figures in one of the crime gangs at the centre of the Drogheda feud. The probe formed part of a wider effort targeting drugs, firearms and financial crime linked to organised crime activity in Louth.
Judge Dara Hayes heard that Smith had been living in Drogheda at the time and had been involved in a violent relationship with an associate of the gang. After that relationship ended, she lived with a sister of the Boylans in Moneymore, and transfers were made to that account. Smith told gardaí that “were crazy times” and said she “did not ask questions,” while also telling the court she feared the organised crime gang and its associates .
The court also heard that McManus was the former partner of Josh Boylan and that they had a child together. She worked as a hairdresser and had her own business, and her counsel said she had struggled with addiction in the past but had been clean and sober for five years. Defence lawyers said both women were now law-abiding and hard working, and argued they had recklessly, rather than knowingly, become involved in the laundering activity .
Judge Hayes accepted that the offences were serious, but noted mitigation in both cases. He said the defendants had been reckless and were aware of the type of criminals involved, though he accepted they were not naive. He also noted that both women had expressed remorse and were single mothers trying to live “prosocial” lives. He sentenced each woman to two-and-a-half years in prison, but suspended the sentences for two-and-a-half years on condition they enter a bond of €100 each to keep the peace and be of good behaviour during that period .
The case is one of several arising from the long-running Drogheda feud, which has generated a stream of arrests, court appearances and money-laundering prosecutions in recent years. Earlier reporting showed that four women were separately brought before Drogheda District Court on money laundering charges in relation to the feud, while other suspects were arrested in a broader garda investigation into organised crime activity in the area.
The court proceedings also formed part of a wider pattern of prosecutions linked to the Boylan faction, including cases involving alleged laundering through ordinary bank accounts and digital payment platforms. In one related court hearing, gardaí named Keith and Josh Boylan in connection with the investigation into money laundering by three women accused of handling criminal proceeds for the gang. That hearing underlined the extent to which the feud has expanded from street violence into financial crime and the use of personal accounts to move illicit funds.
Money laundering cases tied to organised crime in Drogheda have become a recurring feature of the Irish courts’ response to the feud. The latest sentence shows how authorities are continuing to pursue not only the gang figures themselves but also the people whose accounts were allegedly used to move and conceal criminal money. Courts have repeatedly heard that personal relationships, fear, coercion and addiction can be factors in these cases, but judges have also stressed that the offences remain serious because they help sustain criminal groups.
Although the women avoided immediate custody, the suspended terms still leave them facing prison if they breach the conditions imposed by the court. The outcome reflects the balancing act often seen in money laundering sentencing, where judges weigh the scale of the offending, the defendant’s role, personal mitigation and the broader public interest in disrupting organised crime finances .
The case also highlights the growing use of digital payment services such as Revolut in criminal finance investigations. Irish courts have increasingly heard evidence that small and medium-sized transactions can be layered through personal accounts to disguise the movement of illicit proceeds, making money laundering investigations a central part of gang disruption efforts.
In Drogheda, where the feud has already led to severe violence and multiple criminal cases, financial enforcement now appears to be an equally important front. By targeting the movement of gang money through everyday accounts, investigators are trying to weaken the infrastructure that supports the crime groups operating in the region.