A 25-year-old woman sent thousands of pounds to her partner who was lying low in Dubai over a gangland shooting – despite telling police they had split up.
Annie Webster, 25, wired £6,066.85 to her partner Shawn O’Malley, who was linked by police to a shooting in Bolton on September 9, 2019 when a house was sprayed with bullets.
Police suspected that O’Malley organised the shooting on behalf of Warrington criminal Leon Cullen.
O’Malley, a well know drug dealer from Warrington, later fled to Dubai while he was still on licence from prison.
Webster told the police that she had split from O’Malley in November 2019 and was no longer in contact with him.
However, after a police search and interview, Webster pleaded guilty to concealing, disguising, converting, transferring or removing criminal property on January 11 this year. A charge of conspiring to pervert the course of justice will also lay on file.
Webster appeared at Bolton Crown court on Tuesday, when she was sentenced to a two-year community order with a 25-day rehabilitation activity requirement.
Her Facebook page also shows several photos of her with O’Malley, believed to have been taken in Warrington this year.
Annie Webster, 25, wired £6,066.85 to her partner Shawn O’Malley, who was linked by police to a shooting in Bolton on September 9, 2019. Pictured are the couple this year in a photo believed to have been taken at her Warrington home
Webster told the police that she had split from O’Malley in November 2019 and was no longer in contact with him
On January 24, 2020 Greater Manchester Police visited Webster at her home on Cumberland Street in Warrington, when detectives questioned her about O’Malley.
She said that although she had visited Dubai she had not made any contact with O’Malley while she was on holiday.
On March 6, 2020 police executed a warrant at her home in Warrington, when she was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
During a search of her house police recovered a number of items including: A Western Union Money Transfer Document in her name, an Emirates Economy Boarding Pass in her name, and a receipt voucher for a Dubai based law firm.
From a storage area under the stairs in her home police found a money transfer receipt for £962.56 dated February 4, 2020, a Ghaya Brand Hotel luggage claim ticket, a money transfer receipt dated February 7, 2020 and her passport.
Police then established that she had sent £3,900.00 UK pounds to the United Arab Emirates on the February 1, 2020.
O’Malley, a well know drug dealer from Warrington, fled to Dubai while he was still on licence from prison
On March 6, 2020 police executed a warrant at her home in Warrington, when she was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Pictured are the couple this year in a photo believed to have been taken at her Warrington home
During a search of her house police recovered a number of items including: A Western Union Money Transfer Document in her name, an Emirates Economy Boarding Pass in her name, and a receipt voucher for a Dubai based law firm
On February 4, 2020 she had sent £962.56 a third party based in the Emirate of Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates.
And on December 23 2019 she had bought 5,000 Dirhams and made cash payments to a Dubai based law firm.
Police believe that Webster stayed at the Ghaya Grand Hotel and deposited 5,000 Dirhams in to the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank.
A court document states: ‘The Crown’s case, is the Defendant, Annie Webster, knew or suspected the monies, in whole or in part, to be directly [or indirectly] from the proceeds of Shawn O’Malley’s criminal conduct.’
Webster was later questioned by police about the money she had wired to the UAE, her trip to Dubai and her relationship with O’Malley and Leon Cullen. She declined to comment during the interview.
O’Malley, now back in the UK, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to discharge a firearm and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and is to be sentenced later this year at Liverpool Crown Court.
Source: Daily Mail
