Cork man escapes prison sentence in Property Tax fraud trial

A 22-year-old man who fraudulently obtained banking details from people seeking to pay their Local Property Tax has avoided a jail term for fraud offences.

Former Abtran employee, Jonathan Gough, had pleaded guilty in November to four fraud offences at Abtran, University Technology Park, Curraheen in Cork in May 2013.

Gough - with an address at Glyntown, Glanmire, Co Cork - was charged with dishonestly by deception inducing three women and a man to provide their banking details.

The charges alleged that he obtained the details from the four under the pretext that they were making a payment for their local property tax - with the intention of making gain for himself.

The judge noted that nobody was at a financial loss and that Gough had no previous convictions, and released him on a probation bond for a year.