Corkman jailed for ripping off Coldplay fans

Fans of Coldplay were ripped off by a Corkman on DoneDeal when he conned them into buying pairs of tickets at Christmas time that were never received.

Kenneth Hornibrook, of 3 Kilmore Rd, Knocknaheeny, has been repaying the fans since December 2016 and yesterday brought the outstanding balance of €338 to Cork District Court to compensate them.

That brought to €2,538 the total compensation he had brought to court, said Joseph Cuddigan, defending.

Inspector Ronan Kennelly confirmed payment of the full amount of compensation.

Sgt Clodagh O’Sullivan told Judge Olann Kelleher how the scam was carried out.

Hornibrook put adverts on DoneDeal showing he had tickets for sale for a Coldplay concert at Croke Park in July 2017.

In follow-up phonecalls he would tell the unsuspecting music fans to send the money by Western Union to various locations around the country in his name.

He called to collect the money that was transferred — something over €200 in each case to cover two tickets.

When the people who paid received no tickets, they made complaints to An Garda Síochána and an investigation was put in place.

Hornibrook pleaded guilty to 12 separate counts of theft, mostly related to pairs of tickets. Several were supposed to have been for Coldplay.

Others were for Andre Rieu, Red Hot Chili Peppers, a Liverpool match, and four tickets for Tommy Tiernan at Vicar St.

Despite payment of full compensation, Judge Olann Kelleher said the thefts still merited a jail term.

He sentenced Hornibrook to six months in prison. The sentence is to be appealed.