A widow who defrauded £230,000 (€292,000) from businessmen has been given the option of doing 240 hours' community service instead of going to jail for 18 months.
Margaret Whelan (43), Llewellyn Court, Ballinteer, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to falsely obtaining cheques and cash worth some £230,000 on dates between September and December 1999 by pretending to be a supplier of Guinness goods.
Judge Joseph Matthews imposed a three-year sentence but suspended 18 months of it and directed that, in lieu of serving the 18 months balance, Whelan should do the maximum 240 hours' community service, in accordance with the recommendations of the Probation and Welfare Service.
"The offences were very grave because of her duplicity in ripping off four businessmen to the tune of £230,000 but also due to the financial consequences for them but there is nothing to be gained by society by her serving time," he said.
Judge Matthews said if she breached any of the bond terms, including failure to carry out the community service or committing any new offence in the next three years, she would have to serve the three years imposed by him.
Judge Matthews said he didn't accept Whelan was as remorseful as she claimed and that she seemed still "to be making reality out of figments of her imagination such as the fictional and non-existent 'Gerry O'Brien' she claimed to be dealing with" in Guinness.
"She has gained little or nothing from these crimes and the money she ripped off is unrecoverable having being used to pay off prior debts from her failed business," he added.
Mr David Goldberg, defending, agreed the court could accept that "Gerry O'Neill" didn't exist and said it would have been better for Whelan to admit that. "She has let her ideas run away with her," he said.
Mr Goldberg added: "She has asked me to express her sincerest remorse. Through her guilty plea she recognises she has done wrong and injured a number of people."
Det Garda Liam Fahy told prosecuting counsel, Ms Tara Burns, that Mr Micheal O'Callaghan, who had a financial services business, was contacted by Whelan in reply to advertisements he placed in newspapers and went to her home to discuss a mortgage. Mr O'Callaghan was one of the four business men defrauded by Whelan.
She told him she worked supplying sports clothing to schools and had an opportunity to obtain a contract with Guinness for clothing for an upcoming hurling final. She said there was stock at Dublin Port which was meant to be supplied by a company which had gone bankrupt.
Det Garda Fahy said Whelan was using the money to pay other people she was in debt to. There were no goods at Dublin Port and Guinness had no record of a "Gerry O'Brien" working for them.