'Shopaholic' receives suspended sentence for fraud
A "shopaholic" who defrauded her employer of almost €100,000 has received a three-year suspended sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today.
Lynn Byrne (aged 24), from Killinarden Estate, Tallaght, who worked for BWG Foods Ltd on the Greenhills Road in Crumlin as a clerk in their central billing office, pleaded guilty to four charges of dishonesty and theft of cheques.
She admitted to obtaining a cheque for Irl£20,284, (€2,5800) by using a forged manual requisition, and to inducing Mr Frank Mooney of BWG Foods to issue a cheque similarly for Irl£14,620 (€18,600).
Byrne also pleaded guilty to stealing a cheque worth £1,151 (€1,462) on a date unknown between April 1 and 4, and a further cheque worth £2,033 (€2,600) on a date unknown between August 27-29, in 2001.
Judge Katherine Delahunt sentenced Byrne on one of the charges and adjourned sentencing of the three remaining charges to January next year to allow the preparation of a "comprehensive probation report".
She took into account that Byrne had €10,000 in court for her employer and that she had a "difficult history" but said she didn’t want this to minimise the affect her crimes would have had on her employer.
Judge Delahunt suspended the sentence on condition that Byrne keep the peace and be of good behaviour for 12 months and that she attend the probation service for the next 18 months.
Detective Garda Anne Ellis told Mr Remy Farrell BL, prosecuting, that the charges Byrne pleaded guilty to represented sample charges and the total loss to BWG Foods Ltd from April 2001 to February 2003 was in the region of €99,438 (€126,000).
Byrne would either alter or duplicate cheque requisitions to obtain the cheques and would lodge them directly into her own bank account.
She had no previous convictions, had fully co-operated with the garda investigation and had taken responsibility for all the money taken. No money was recovered.
Det Gda Ellis agreed with Ms Caroline Biggs BL, defending, that Byrne’s manager became aware of her acting suspiciously after she was seen in a part of the office with a cheque requisition form, having just asked to go home early on account of being sick.
