Bank scammed for nearly €1m but 'main orchestrator' misses court date

An elaborate mortgages fraud where Bank of Ireland was scammed for almost €1m saw six people get suspended jail sentences yesterday. The man who orchestrated the fraud jumped bail and is being sought by gardaí.

Sgt Mary Skehan of the Garda fraud squad told Cork Circuit Criminal Court: “Patsy Walsh was the main orchestrator of this elaborate and complex deception.”

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said that dealing with the other seven people before the court yesterday was — in the absence of Patrick (Patsy) Walsh, aged 66, of Tinahealy, Co Wicklow — “like Hamlet without the prince”.