Man fraudulently collected over €77k of brother’s pension

A 73-year-old pensioner who fraudulently collected his brother’s state pension for seven years has avoided jail.

Albert Monahan received 356 weekly payments of €219, totalling €77,964, while assuming the identity of his brother Peter Monahan, who lives in England.

Monahan, of Carnlough Rd, Cabra, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to four sample counts of theft at Berkeley Road Post Office, Phibsborough, on dates between November 2007 and October 2014, and one count of producing a false instrument.