'Cunning' Byrne sentenced to 12 years for €52m theft

Former solicitor Thomas Byrne has been jailed for 12 years for stealing €52m from the banks and defrauding 13 clients out of their houses or money.

A rogue solicitor has been sentenced to 16 years in jail over a €52m property loans swindle – the largest theft case in Irish history.

Thomas Byrne, of Mountjoy Square, Dublin, was found unanimously guilty of 50 charges of theft, forgery and deception after a trial lasting six weeks.