Shop manager stole €57k from employer for gambling debts

A 27-YEAR-OLD toy shop manager stole more than €57,000 from his employer because of an out of control gambling problem, a court heard yesterday.

However, Aidan Topley, took the money in a way he was sure to be caught, prosecuting counsel Tom Rice told the Circuit Criminal Court, in Tralee.

Topley, of 48 Hillcrest Park, Glasnevin, Dublin, pleaded guilty to stealing €57,346 at Smyth’s Toy Shop, Manor West, Tralee, between May 25, 2009, and June 2, 2009.

Mr Rice said after a disparity was found between the amount of money lodged and the amount that was meant to be lodged in the bank from the shop, the accused phoned another employee and admitted he had stolen the money.

“He took the money in a rather ham-fisted way, a way in which he was sure to be caught. He had a gambling problem,” Mr Rice added.

Full compensation had been paid and the accused had no previous convictions, he told Judge Carroll Moran.

Barrister Katie O’Connell, for Topley, said her client had worked extremely hard for his employer and had been promoted four times to the level of store manager.

She said he did not know anybody in Tralee where he felt very isolated and turned to drink and gambling. He stole the money to pay off gambling debts.

Ms O’Connell said he had thought of suicide on a number of occasions, but now had the support of his family from whom he borrowed money to pay compensation. He was currently undergoing an addiction treatment programme at the Stanhope Centre, in Dublin, she said.

Judge Moran said it was a “very serious offence and a substantial defrauding of an employer”, but pointed to a number of mitigating factors, including his plea of guilty, co-operation with the gardaí and a low risk of re-offending.

He gave Topley the benefit of the Probation Act and bound him to the peace for three years.