Former solicitor Thomas Byrne has been jailed for 16 years with four suspended for stealing €52m from banks and defrauding 13 clients out of their houses or money.

Former solicitor Thomas Byrne has alleged at his €52m theft and fraud trial that some banks knew he was using invalid collateral when they granted him loans.

The State will not seek a retrial in the case of a Louth man who had one of his two convictions for IRA membership quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal last year.