A NOTORIOUS conman and sex offender, who once tried to con his way into a meeting with women TDs in the Dáil, is being sought by police in Britain.
John Cronin was released from Winson Green Prison, Birmingham, in March. He is now being sought by police in northeast England over a series of alleged thefts including stealing from an old-age pensioner before fleeing the guesthouse he had been staying at in Hartlepool without paying and adopting a new identity.
Last year Cronin fought attempts to move him to England from Lisburn’s Maghaberry Prison. He was in breach of a British probation warrant and released by gardaí in the Republic after he was held for reportedly posing as a monsignor and stealing a purse in Donegal. He was tracked down to an address in Northern Ireland by the PSNI. Cronin had made his way to Ireland after fleeing a bail hostel in Birmingham.
The 39-year-old liked to use the disguise of a priest and prior to his imprisonment in Lisburn was wanted in Ireland after using fake and stolen cheques to pay for numerous goods in Donegal, Sligo and Galway.
Scottish-born Cronin’s father, Michael, once thought a move to his birthplace, Co Limerick, would calm his son down.
It was not long before the con artist was pretending to be a priest to obtain food and lodgings from genuine priests. Cronin served a custodial sentence in 2002 for an armed raid on a bank in Waterford.
He was previously sentenced to 28 months in prison in Hereford, England, when found guilty of 11 counts of deception using false cheques to the value of €8,482 (£7,371.91).
Prior to that Cronin ran up a €10,000 (£8,680) bill for a meal with vintage wine when he dined alone in a restaurant in Sweden before telling the waiter to fetch the police as he could not pay.
He was jailed for life in 1992 for a sex attack on a Conservative party worker, committed while he was disguised as a priest.
The sentence was reduced to six years on appeal and he served four.
He served another sentence for posing as the mayor of Birmingham at an animal welfare charity function in Limerick where he tried to pass off a fake €115,000 (£100,000) cheque.
Cronin performed a number of cons in Ireland while posing as a priest, including trying to con his way into meetings with female TDs at the Dáil.