Woman jailed for robbing hepatitis C group

A court has ruled that the Health Service Executive is to get €63,500 compensation from the former director of a hepatitis C support group who stole more than €116,000 from the organisation.

Yesterday, Bernadette Warnock, 63, was jailed for two years. Warnock stole the money while operating the finances of Positive Action Ltd, which was set up in 1994 to help women who contracted hepatitis C through contaminated blood product in maternity hospitals.

Warnock, of Garrettstown, Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 71 counts of theft and fraud between 2009 and 2011 totalling €116,226. Positive Action had 730 members and received the majority of its funding from the HSE. It closed in 2014 following a HSE audit.