Jury in Lisa Thompson murder trial told ‘tablets’ worth €50k were found in attic of home

Gardaí searching the home of Lisa Thompson, who was stabbed 11 times in the chest, found thousands of prescription tablets worth nearly €50,000 hidden in her attic, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

Witness and neighbour Sandra McMahon previously told the murder trial that mother-of-two Ms Thompson was dealing tablets from her house and believed she had "maybe five or six" customers.

She said Ms Thompson sold the tablets for €15 per tray.

The jury also heard that Ms Thompson and the man accused of her murder, Brian McHugh (40), had a "bit of a fling" in the year before she died.

Mr McHugh with an address at Cairn Court, Poppintree, Ballymun in Dublin 11, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Thompson (52) at Sandyhill Gardens, Ballymun in Dublin 11 on May 9, 2022.

In her opening speech, counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions Fiona Murphy SC said Ms Thompson's body was found inside the door of her home with multiple stab wounds to the chest and a window blind cord wrapped around the neck.

She said the 12 jurors would hear that a mixed DNA profile was found on the blind cord, to which the accused man couldn't be excluded as a minor contributor.

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A pathologist has also given evidence that Ms Thompson's death occurred because of a combination of ligature strangulation causing asphyxia and multiple stab wounds to the left side of the chest.

Garda Emma Young told Ms Murphy that she and five other officers searched Ms Thompson's house at Sandyhill Gardens on May 12, 2022.

She said they entered via the rear gate and gained entry to the attic from the roof of the small bedroom.

Garda Young said she discovered two sports-type bags containing a large amount of boxed tablets.

There were two types of tablets amounting to 205 boxes and she said the bags were located behind a water-tank in the attic.

Under cross-examination, the garda told Brendan Grehan SC, defending, that she believed the boxes were prescription tablets. She said 100 boxes were labelled 'Zopiclone', which had ten tablets per tray with ten trays per box.

The witness said from her experience the tablets are used to treat depression and were "dealt" or "found on the street".

Referring to the second type of tablets also called 'Zopiclone', the garda said there were ten trays with 14 tablets per tray.

Asked the value of the tablets, she told Mr Grehan "they are €2 per tablet when people sell them on the street".

An exhibit officer, who showed the two sports bags to the jury, informed the court that there were a total of 24,700 tablets in the 205 boxes.

Garda Young agreed with the defence counsel that €2 per tablet would amount to "close to €50,000" on the street".

She said the attic had no light, which made it very dark.

She said the bags were "concealed" and hidden on the far side of the attic. She agreed with the defence barrister that if an individual was "putting their head into the attic" they wouldn't notice the bags straight away.

John McDonagh told Ms Murphy he was "very close" to the deceased, that he was a born-again Christian and that this was how he had come into contact with Ms Thompson.

The witness agreed with the prosecutor that he knew the accused and had told gardaí that Mr McHugh and Ms Thompson had "a fling" the previous year.

Mr McDonagh also agreed he had told officers that there had been some contact between the pair around two or three weeks before Ms Thompson's death.

The next witness, Alison Doherty, testified she had become friends with Ms Thompson in 2012 when she moved to Sandyhill Gardens.

She said the deceased suffered from mental health issues. The witness agreed she had told gardai that the "most recent fella" Ms Thompson was seeing was the accused man.

Ms Doherty also agreed it was her understanding that the pair had "a bit of a fling or some kind of entanglement" the previous year but it had "kind of fizzled out". She further agreed Ms Thompson wasn't a big drinker and was on medication.

Under cross-examination, Ms Doherty agreed with Mr Grehan that the pair had got back in touch around a month or two before Ms Thompson died.

Asked whether she was aware Ms Thompson sold medication to people, the witness said the deceased "had certain people who came to buy meds".

She said she wouldn't have been aware that Ms Thompson had "huge quantities".

The trial continues on Tuesday February 18 before Ms Justice Karen O'Connor and a jury of four men and eight women.