A DUBLIN woman found guilty of stealing more than €2 million from U2 bassist Adam Clayton used some of the money for flights to America.
Carol Hawkins is awaiting sentencing after being convicted on 181 offenses which amounted to the embezzling of €2.8 million from Clayton while working as a personal assistant.
The trial at Dublin's Circuit Criminal Court had been told how the 48-year-old mother of two had stolen the money over a four-year-period, in 181 bank account transactions.
Clayton himself attended the verdict hearing, following which Hawkins was released on bail by Judge Patrick McCartan until July 6, when she will be sentenced.
Details of the embezzling first came to light in 2008, when Hawkins admitted to spending thousands of euro on flights to the U.S. and Britain to see her children - all funded from the guitarist's bank account.
Upon digging further into her activities, investigators found she was funding a lavish lifestyle using Clayton's cash to pay for exotic holidays, designer clothes, a total of 22 horses, and education and training courses for her children.
She was able to embezzle the cash as she was a signatory on two of the U2 star's accounts, and signed 181 checks for deposit in her own account, a credit card account, and an account jointly owned with her husband.
