An insurance claims handler who defrauded AXA Insurance of €1.1 million over five years has been sentenced to three years in prison by Judge Frank O'Donnell at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Daniel O'Halloran (52), of Jamestown Road, Finglas, pleaded guilty to 25 sample charges from a total of 178 counts on the indictment of defrauding AXA Insurance, Wolfe Tone Street, Dublin, on dates between December 1999 and June 2004.

Judge Frank O'Donnell said O'Halloran was "a very powerful and trusted officer of the company" who committed a serious offence that "seriously undermined public confidence in institutions that we all depend on".

He described the accused's breach of trust as putting a "serious dent" in this confidence but added that he believed that "the ends of justice" would be met by O'Halloran serving 12 months in prison before he suspended the last two years of the sentence on strict conditions.

Judge O'Donnell said he took into account that O'Halloran had fully co-operated with the investigation and had outlined his activities to gardaí .

He also said that he considered how O'Halloran had spent the funds on home improvements, property in Kerry and how he had given money "foolishly away to relatives".

Det Garda John O'Brien said O'Halloran would reopen insurance claims that had already been settled and change the name on the application forms. He would then wait until a colleague had left their computer terminal open and using their identification would authorise a cheque for payment of that claim.

He used the names of his wife and another male friend on the reactivated application forms and lodged the subsequent cheques into bank accounts in their names but to which he had full access.

He made an average of three to four false claims per month and defrauded the company of approximately €20,000 monthly, totalling €1.1 million over five years.

Gardaí were contacted when it was discovered in July 2004, following a routine audit in AXA, that previously closed files had been reopened by O'Halloran, who made "forthright admissions" and fully co-operated in explaining how he had obtained the money and how he had spent it.

He had no previous convictions and had never come to Garda attention before.

Garda O'Brien agreed with defending senior counsel Conor Devalley that O'Halloran went to great pains to emphasise that neither his wife nor his friend had anything to do with his fraudulent activities.

He agreed that although O'Halloran had spent some of the money "significantly enhancing" two properties he had previously bought in Kerry, most of the funds were "frittered away".