Man who conned older lady of €5k spared jail

A pensioner was conned into paying €5,000 for a small amount of shoddy work at her home, and yesterday the culprit was told that the only reason he was avoiding jail was because he had brought all of the money to court to repay the woman.

Inspector Ronan Kennelly said Denis Harrington, aged 40, of 99 Ballyspillane, Killarney, Co Kerry, and others called to the pensioner’s home at Southbury Road in Cork on August 10. He was paid €5,000 for what was described as some shoddy work to her gutters and other repair work.

Harrington pleaded guilty to a charge of dishonestly inducing the woman to pay him €5,000.