Postman to be sentenced for €1.7m fraud - Eire

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THE postal manager who went missing following the discovery of an almost €1.7m fraud has had his sentencing adjourned.

Tony O'Reilly (37) of Sandhills, Hacketstown Road, Carlow, appeared before Judge Barry Hickson at Wexford Circuit Criminal Court yesterday having pleaded guilty to six charges of theft.

O'Reilly also pleaded guilty to six charges of falsifying An Post lodgement dockets for accounting purposes between December 6, 2010, and June 29, 2011.

The thefts totalled €1,650,000. He is alleged to have taken the money because of a gambling addiction.

Defence counsel Colman Cody BL told the court that the sentencing would take up to half a day.

He also said that the defence was awaiting a number of reports which had previously been requested.

Judge Hickson agreed to have sentencing put back to December 11 next.

- Brendan Furlong

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Tony O'Reilly's Euro 1.75 million online gambling career ends in a jail term

readers will recall the story of an Irish post office manager, Tony O'Reilly, who over a 14 month period in 2010-2011 plundered the funds under his care in order to feed an increasingly voracious appetite for gambling.

This week O'Reilly paid for his dishonesty in embezzling Euro 1.75 million with a four year jail sentence & the loss of his job.

The Irish Independent newspaper reports that O'Reilly was sentenced in the Wexford Circuit Court by Judge Pauline Codd, after evidence was led that he used a variety of criminal ploys to misappropriate large sums of money in his charge.

O'Reilly had previously admitted to six counts of theft at the Gorey Post Office where he worked. He also admitted six charges of falsifying An Post lodgement dockets for accounting purposes between December 6, 2010, & June 29, 2011.

The court heard that O'Reilly had since given up gambling completely, had attended courses at addiction centres & now wished to become an addiction counsellor.

Judge Codd said O'Reilly's behaviour had the pattern of somebody out of control. She said he had engaged in a serious breach of trust over a significant period of time & his theft was deliberate & systematic.

She also noted that he had disappeared for 11 days after the theft was discovered.

The judge sentenced O'Reilly to four years in prison but suspended the final year on condition that when he comes out of prison he attends further counselling.