THE STATE authorities hold the deeds of a house in the Netherlands, put up as security for £1,000 bail by a convicted drug smuggler who has since disappeared, the Court of Criminal Appeal was told yesterday.
The court decided that the State could now seek to recover the £1,000.
John Lawrence, with an address at Bachelor's Walk, Dublin, was convicted in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in March 1992 of the importation and possession of drugs. He received an eight year prison sentence.
In July 1994 the Court of Criminal Appeal granted Lawrence bail in his own surety of £1,000 pending appeal against conviction. Lawrence lodged the title deeds of a house at Larentzplein, The Hague, the Netherlands, as security.
He did not appear in court in February, 1995. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest, but his whereabouts are not known.
Mr John Peart SC, for the State, said that Lawrence had been told not to leave the jurisdiction. There had been something about an application for him to go to England to see people involved in the matter.
Mr Justice Geoghegan said that he thought the visit was to see his mother.
Mr Peart said that the gardai were satisfied Lawrence had gone. His appeal had not been proceeded with and had been struck out by a previous court.
