Compulsive shopper 'frittered away' stolen money

A mother of one who defrauded almost €99,000 has had her sentence adjourned at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to allow the State to consider psychiatric reports presented by the defence.

Claire Mahon (aged 25) of Bailis Downs, Athlumney, Navan, Co Meath, was a "compulsive shopper" who "frittered" the money away on clothes and perfume, the court was told.

Mahon pleaded guilty to 96 sample counts of forgery and theft from her employer, Autoglass Limited in Calmount Business Park, Ballymount Industrial Estate, between February 8, 2002 and February 20, 2004.

Detective Garda Derek Brazil told the court that Mahon worked in the accounts payable department of Autoglass Ltd since November 2001. She forged the signatures of two colleagues on cheques having made them payable to herself and then wrote a supplier names on the counterfoil of the cheque book.

She then entered the cheque details and amount under the name of different suppliers in the account books.

Judge Bryan McMahon said it was a "very difficult case" and granted an application from the State to adjourn the case to allow them consider the reports. He remanded Mahon on continuing bail to next May for sentence.

Det garda Brazil told Mr Vincent Heneghan BL, prosecuting, that a company bookkeeper became suspicious when a supplier told him in May 2004 that they were still waiting on a cheque from Autoglasss.

Further investigation revealed that a cheque had been issued from the amount on the supplier’s invoice but it was never paid to the them.

Det garda Brazil said they then discovered that a number of cheques appeared to have been paid to suppliers but the money never actually went to the companies.

The two women who signed the Autoglass cheques were consulted and they indicated that they never signed the cheques and that the signatures used were forgeries. An English branch of Autoglass investigated the matter further and found that 49 cheques, totalling €98,851, were "erroneous".

Det garda Brazil said gardaí were contacted and Mahon’s home was searched in July that year. She made a voluntary statement admitting her involvement and fully co-operated with their investigation.

No money was recovered and it was difficult to establish what Mahon had spent the money on. She had no previous convictions and had not come to garda attention since.

Det garda Brazil agreed with Ms Anne Rowland BL, defending, that her client was on maternity leave when the gardai arrived and that she said to them: "I am not going to lie to you. I am going to be honest."

Mahon told gardaí she first started defrauding the company in January 2002 when a petty cash cheque for €150 was returned and she successfully cashed it and kept the money.

He agreed that Mahon was from a respectable family, that her father worked in the prison service and her mother had suffered from ill health.

Det garda Brazil also accepted that Mahon had €4,500 in court to offer as compensation and that the bank had covered the financial loss suffered by Autoglass Ltd.

Ms Rowland told Judge McMahon that her client was a compulsive shopper who frittered away the money on perfume and clothes.

Ms Rowland said Mahon started attending for psychotherapy after her arrest and it was discovered that something had happened her in December 2001 and that she would benefit from further counselling.