Conman who bragged about crimes on radio loses appeal against jail term

A serial conman who once telephoned RTÉ’s Liveline to talk about his crimes has lost an appeal against a four-year jail term for theft and other offences.

In Oct 2011, Francis Shanley, aged 37, with addresses at Shannon Gate, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, and Church View, Boyle, Co Roscommon, was sentenced to seven years, with three suspended, by Judge Yvonne Murphy at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

He had pleaded guilty to theft and three charges of inducing another to pay a deposit for camera equipment by purporting to be an authorised seller between Jan 25 and May 1, 2006.

He also pleaded guilty to inducing another woman to give possession of her car at James Place East on Dec 17, 2007.

The Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday said it would dismiss Shanley’s appeal, having being unable to detect any error in principle in the sentences imposed by Judge Murphy.

Michael Bowman, defending, submitted that Judge Murphy should have suspended part of the sentence in relation to the theft of the camera equipment in recognition of Shanley’s plea of guilty and the fact he voluntarily made a statement to gardaí.

He said Shanley, who has 63 previous convictions, had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and a personality disorder and was bipolar.

Paul Carroll, prosecuting, submitted that, in the round, Judge Murphy had left “light at the end of the tunnel” by suspending a large part of the term, and had taken the “proportionality” approach to the case as a whole which was the norm.

The court heard that, in Jan 2007, Shanley obtained camera equipment before selling it on for €6,000.

With regard to the second charge, Shanley telephoned car owners to say there was a problem with the brakes that would require the resetting of the on-board computer.

He told a woman he would collect her Mercedes from her workplace, but the woman had been alerted by staff at Ballsbridge Motors and gardaí arrested Shanley as he waited for the woman to meet him.