Football club secretary who stole €7500 given suspended sentence

By Isabel Hayes

A football club secretary who stole €7500 from the club has been given a suspended 20 month sentence.

Peter Gill (64) had a gambling addiction when he stole €7500 in cash from Drumcondra Football Club, using an ATM card that he applied for unbeknownst to the club chairman, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard on Monday.

Gill, of Willow Park Grove, Glasnevin, Dublin, pleaded guilty to one count of theft from the club on dates between 2012 and 2015. He has no previous convictions.

Derek Cooney BL, prosecuting, told the court that the theft came to light when the club’s chairman was preparing to leave his role and went to the bank to close his account.

He discovered an ATM card had been issued to Gill – the club secretary – and that a number of transactions had been made using this card.

When investigating gardaí looked into the transactions, it emerged some of them were legitimate and it was determined that Gill had stolen a total of €7500.

When interviewed by gardai, Gill made full admissions. The court heard he had a gambling problem at the time.

He has not come to the attention of gardaí in the intervening years since the crime and has a number of health issues, defence counsel said.

Sentencing Gill, Judge Martin Nolan said he has been “publicly shamed – rightly – for what he did.”

He handed down a sentence of 20 months, which he suspended in full.