Michael Perry, a 42-year-old father of two with an address at Mornington Heights, Trim, Co. Meath, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of drugs for sale or supply at Kilshane Avenue, Dublin 15, on 1 February 2022.[1] He was before the court on Friday 30 October 2026.[2] Judge Martin Nolan imposed a sentence of three years and nine months.[1] Perry had no previous convictions.[1] He had worked at the transport company Hales Freight since 2016, starting as a forklift driver and rising to warehouse manager with round-the-clock access to the premises.[1]
Gardaí, the Irish police, were called to the warehouse when a Customs and Excise sniffer dog brought its handler to Perry’s locker, during a search prompted by unofficial parcels arriving from the UK in the name of a former employee who was not involved.[1] Perry gave officers the key, and two sealed boxes were found: one held five 1kg bags of cannabis herb and the other held 10 bags.[1] The drugs were worth €300,000.[1] Perry told gardaí in interview that the activity had been going on since the start of that year.[1]
Gardaí viewed CCTV footage showing that another person had also handled the packages, and that person is still before the courts.[1] Defending, Dominic McGinn SC argued that exceptional circumstances, chiefly Perry’s early guilty plea, would allow Judge Nolan to depart from the mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years.[1] The court heard Perry had a drug addiction and that those who involved him found it useful that he worked in haulage.[1] Counsel said Perry had flown back to Ireland to face up to his responsibilities.[1] He said Perry’s children would be the innocent victims of his offending.[1] Judge Nolan said he assumed Perry had owed money and might have been coerced, describing those he stored the drugs for as “insidious third parties”.[1] Perry said: “I’m sorry I got mixed in with the wrong people, and I’m paying the price now.”[1]