Woman found guilty of being get-away driver for Brian McHugh after he murdered Lisa Thompson

Alison O’Riordan

A HSE addiction counsellor has been found guilty of being the get-away driver for "violent and abusive thug" Brian McHugh after he murdered Lisa Thompson by strangling her with a blind cord and stabbing her to death in her own home.

The Central Criminal Court jury on Tuesday agreed with the prosecution's case that 42-year-old Deirdre Arnold was not an "innocent abroad" and had "decided at every turn" to assist her then-partner McHugh, whom she knew to have murdered mother-of-two Ms Thompson.

Arnold, whom the court heard is the sole financial support for her family, is to remain on bail pending her sentence.

Evidence was heard at McHugh's trial that Ms Thompson was dealing prescription drugs from her home, with gardaí who searched the house finding thousands of prescription tablets worth nearly €50,000 hidden in the attic.

The trial was told that Ms Thompson and McHugh had a "bit of a fling" in the year before she died.

The 11 jurors took five hours and 33 minutes over two days to unanimously reject the defence contention that the prosecution had failed to prove their client knew McHugh had committed a murder when she drove him away from the deceased's house.

Defence lawyers for Arnold submitted in their closing address that while the defendant may have been the get-away driver, it was convicted murderer McHugh who was "really in the driving seat".

Mr Patrick Gageby SC, defending, argued that mother-of-three Arnold was "full of fear" that she could have been strangled herself and reminded the jury that, even if they were satisfied she assisted the murderer, for a conviction they had to find it was without reasonable excuse.

Arnold had told gardaí that McHugh had broken her arm by holding it on the bottom of a stairway and stamping on it. She had also made domestic abuse complaints and got an interim barring order against the killer.

A recording dated November 22nd 2021, of McHugh calling Arnold a "dirty smelly blonde wh**e" and threatening to cut her throat had been played to the jury during the trial.

McHugh can also be heard saying: "I'm telling you if you wanna get the cops up for me you're fu**in dead. Wind me up one more time and you're dead".

Notwithstanding this, the members of the jury unanimously accepted the State's case that Arnold impeded McHugh's prosecution by driving him to Ms Thompson's home at Sandyhill Gardens in Ballymun on May 9th 2022, where she waited outside for "well over an hour" before driving him away from the scene.

Arnold later checked McHugh into the Clayton Hotel near Dublin Airport in an effort to help him evade prosecution.

It was also the prosecution's case that the defendant allowed her silver Hyundai Tucson to be used to dispose of evidence taken from Ms Thompson's home.

Ms Fiona Murphy SC, prosecuting, told the jury in her closing address that they needed to be satisfied that Arnold was assisting McHugh in circumstances where she knew he had committed a murder or a similar offence involving violence. "I'm suggesting not only is it a reasonable inference to draw that she knew, it's an inevitable conclusion," she said.

Following today's guilty verdicts, Mr Justice Patrick McGrath thanked the members of the jury for their service and said it was very much appreciated. "Clearly you have given the matter careful consideration and we are very grateful for your attendance and attention throughout this trial," he added.

The judge excused them from jury service for the next five years.

When the jurors left the courtroom, Mr Gageby asked the judge whether his client could stay out on bail until her sentencing date. He said she was a mother-of three and the sole financial supporter for her three children.

Ms Murphy said the Director of Public Prosecutions didn't have a particular view and agreed that Arnold had been on bail for the last three years.

The judge said he would not remove the defendant's bail at this stage.

Mr Gageby asked for "a lengthy period to make up the defence papers" and suggested a date at the beginning of June for a sentence hearing.

Mr Justice McGrath remanded Arnold on continuing bail on the same terms and conditions until June 20, when her sentence hearing will take place.

On March 10th this year, Brian McHugh (40), with a former address at Cairn Court, Poppintree, Ballymun in Dublin 11 was sentenced to the mandatory term of life imprisonment for murdering 52-year-old Ms Thompson after a jury found he had inflicted 11 stab wounds to her chest and wrapped the cord around her neck. Six of the wounds had penetrated her heart and two went through and through.

Evidence was given in Arnold's trial that text messages sent to McHugh's phone from a number linked to the defendant on June 18 and 19 2022 - over a month after Ms Thompson was found dead in her home - read "I could of been like Lisa today strangle n stab" and "Look what u done my arm in 3 pieces I've choke marks around my neck".

However, a senior investigating officer told the jury that details of the ligature and strangulation of Ms Thompson had not been released into the public domain in June 2022 and were retained in the investigation room for operational reasons.

The SMS text messages sent from a number saved as "Deirdre" also said: "I near end like Lisa" and "You tried to kill me ur an animal".

Other text messages sent from Arnold to McHugh in June 2022 included her saying: "Murder Lisa n al" and "Move the knife did u" as well as "Ur runners n the knife".

A detective sergeant told the trial that she was in no doubt that a fingermark on a jewellery valuation certificate found in Arnold's vehicle on May 17th, 2022, and linked to Ms Thompson was made by the defendant's right middle finger.

Arnold, the court heard, had given no reply when asked by gardai to account for her fingerprint on the certificate. Detectives told the defendant in her interviews that they believed her possession of the certificate, which was a receipt for an engagement ring bought for Ms Thompson by a former fiance, might be attributable to her commission in one or more suspected offences.

Ms Murphy said in her closing speech that the presence of Arnold's fingerprints on the certificate showed the defendant had a "hand, act or part" in going through items when in the car with McHugh and proved she was involved in attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Deirdre Arnold, with an address at Briarfield Grove, Kilbarrack, Dublin 5 was charged that on a date between May 9th 2022 and May 10 2022, both dates inclusive, at a location within the State, did without reasonable excuse an act with intent to impede the apprehension or prosecution of Brian McHugh, a person who had committed an arrestable offence, namely murder, whilst knowing or believing Brian McHugh to be guilty of the offence or of some other arrestable offence.

Arnold was also charged that on a date between May 9th 2022, and May 10th 2022, both dates inclusive, at a location within the State, acted or embarked upon a course of conduct which had a tendency to and was intended to pervert the course of public justice.

She had pleaded not guilty to the two counts.