No jail for man who stole €49,000 from employer on Christmas Eve

A former apprentice butcher, who stole more than €49,000 from his employer during a “drug-induced paranoia” on Christmas Eve has avoided jail.

James Cahill (aged 22) of Ferrycarrig Park, Coolock in Dublin, was approached twice by a security guard at Finglas’s Charlestown Shopping Centre in Dublin last December when he was spotted pushing a wheelie bin in and out of McArdle’s butchers.

However, the security guard accepted Cahill’s excuse that he was using the bin to help move into a house across the street.

James Cahill pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court where he was given a suspended four-year prison sentence on condition that he keep the peace and complete 240 hours of unpaid community work.