Ireland’s best conman... but he says he is ready to give himself up
Frank Shanley, who has been dubbed the Irish equivalent of US conman Frank Abagnale Jnr whose crimes were portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the Hollywood film ‘Catch me if you Can’, said he was stupid to flee last May before he served the last three weeks of a sentence in an Antrim Jail.
He said he will go back to Maghaberry and serve out his time before returning to the south to face three warrants issued for him in relation to thefts.
“I have spoken to a very nice garda in the west of Ireland and he is making arrangements for me. This has got to stop and I have to start thinking about my family. I have problems myself, but this is not the way,” he said.
The 30-year-old, who is from Roscommon has allegedly carried out stings all over Ireland, passing himself off as either a garda or as a television producer for Sky, RTÉ and TV3.
Earlier this year he was captured by police in the north in possession of £50,000 worth of camera equipment. He later pleaded guilty to handling stolen property and theft.
However, three weeks before he was due to complete his sentence he went on the run while let out of a jail as part of a pre-release programme.
“I just didn’t feel comfortable there but they let me out on trust and I will go back,” Shanley said on the Joe Duffy Show yesterday. “I’m a person who made mistakes, big time. But there are reasons why I’ve done what I’ve done. The only defence I have is that I haven’t hurt anyone. I have deceived people.”
Many of those people, particularly car dealers, in various parts of the country rang into the radio station and told how he had swindled them.
While some were scathing about him, others were complimentary.
“He was the best I ever saw and I am in the motor business for 20 years,” said Denis, a Honda dealer in Thurles, whom Shanley allegedly conned by dressing up as a garda.
He told how the conman allegedly test drove two cars before deciding to take one worth e13,000 and saying he would be organising his finance through the garda credit union.
Thomas in Cork told how Shanley allegedly drove up to his business in a convertible Saab car and hired a €7,000 camera and tripod saying it was for RTÉ. They took his licence number and car registration. “The car was stolen and he tried to sell that in the North,” said Thomas. “He was very convincing.”
Another caller, Catherine, told how he pretended to be a bank manager and successfully secured a €28,000 Volkswagen Passat.
“I would wake up in the morning in a confused state and drive and all of a sudden I would be a garda and I would go into a garage and say I was a garda and want to take a car for a test drive,” said Shanley.
“I’d keep it for a few days and usually email the garage and say sorry and tell them where the car was. I didn’t steal all the cars. In one case I sold a car. Some people say I sold them all but that isn’t true and I’m going to make that known because I’m giving myself up next week.”
He said he had even used RTÉ’s name to hire out two cameras from a company in Dublin.
“I actually rang the Director General to apologise to him because I was giving myself up,” he said.
“I’ve always wanted to be famous, obviously. I started off working on the radio. But I’ve made mistakes and I’m going to own up to them. I deserve everything I get.”
Shanley is described as being 5ft 10in tall, of medium build, with fair hair and blue eyes.
* Shanley has targeted the car and media industries. He has swindled companies out of cameras and vehicles worth tens of thousands of pounds.
* He has also cheekily posed as a television producer working for Sky, RTE and TV3.
* He was caught in Derry in possession of £50,000 worth of camera equipment earlier this year but released in May and began his scams again.
* He has pretended to be a garda and took vehicles from garages.
* He has stolen cameras while pretending to work for RTÉ.
* He has fooled independent production companies in Northern Ireland and even hired a camera crew to film him going around nightclubs in the North.
* He has stolen cars after taking them from a dealers for a test drive.
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