O’Brien gets an extension to appeal jail term

Former businessman Breifne O’Brien has been granted an extension to appeal his prison sentence for inducing people to advance millions of euro to him to invest in bogus property deals.

The 54-year-old, with an address at Monkstown Grove, Monkstown, Co Dublin, had pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 14 sample counts of making a gain or causing a loss by deception of around €8.5m between 2003 and 2004.

He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment by Judge Patricia Ryan on October 8, 2014. During case management procedures in the Court of Appeal yesterday, counsel for O’Brien, Patrick McCullough BL, applied for an extension to file an appeal against sentence.