Suspended sentence for thief who faked own death

By Natasha Reid and Eimear Dodd

A judge has directed the Probation Services to carry out a risk assessment on a woman who faked her own death to avoid going to court to face theft and deception charges.

Amy McAuley (35) of Connagh, Fethard-on-Sea, Co. Wexford previously pleaded guilty to one count of the use of a false instrument through submitting a false death notification form to Wexford County Council on January 19, 2023.

She also pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice on January 23, 2023 and to a count of forgery of a medical report on November 23, 2022, both at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court at the Criminal Courts of Justice, Parkgate Street.

McAuley also pleaded to a second count of using a false instrument, a medical certificate, at Pearse Street Garda Station on May 28, 2021 and attempted deception in 2018.

She further entered guilty pleas to five counts of theft and one of possession of the proceeds of crime on separate dates between November 2015 and May 2023.

McAuley has four previous convictions for theft and deception offences. She received a sentence of two years, suspended for 10 years in November 2015 for the theft of just under €111,000 from a former employer. She repaid €30,000 on the day of sentence but the balance is outstanding, the court has heard.

McAuley admitted submitting a false death notification form to obtain a death certificate. She told gardai when interviewed in 2023 that she knew she was in trouble again, could not face coming to court and did not want to leave her young child.

Judge Orla Crowe said this was a “complex case” and the court would welcome the assistance of the Probation Services, particularly to assess the defendant’s risk of re-offending.

The judge directed the preparation of a probation report and adjourned the case to October for finalisation.

Defence counsel, Rebecca Smith BL, noted her client is now living in Dublin and asked the court to change the garda station where her client must sign on two days a week from New Ross to Blanchardstown.

Judge Crowe granted the application and  remanded McAuley on continuing bail.

The court previously heard evidence that McAuley obtained a €10,000 personal loan from KBC Bank in 2018 using altered documents she had taken from her then employer.

That year, McAuley also made a second unsuccessful application for a €5,000 loan using altered identification documents in the name of a woman she had been giving piano lessons to in Co. Meath.

McAuley made admissions, apologised and accepted she had not repaid any of the €10,000 loan after her arrest in May 2019. She was charged and sent forward for trial before the Circuit Criminal Court on theft and fraud charges.

Gardai contacted McAuley in May 2021 to interview her as part of a separate investigation into the theft of nine mobile phones from Three Ireland in July 2020.

McAuley told gardai in late May 2021 that she was unwell and provided a medical report, which was later found to be forged.

In December 2021, gardai were contacted by a woman claiming to be McAuley’s sister who said the defendant was in treatment and would contact them afterwards.

The following May, ‘Winnie’, who also claimed to be a sister of McAuley’s, told gardai that the defendant had passed away. McAuley made both of these calls.

McAuley also submitted a false death notification form to Wexford County Council on January 19, 2023 with death certificates later issued in McAuley’s name and her name in Irish.

The court heard that McAuley had been due to stand trial in January 2023 on the theft and fraud offences relating to the 2018 incidents, but this did not go ahead as it was believed she was dead.

Evidence was also heard that a medical report from the Rotunda Hospital handed to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in November 2022 was a forgery.

McAuley, pretending to be ‘Winnie’, rang gardai in May 2023 to get an email address to send a death certificate to and gave her telephone number. Later, a female solicitor contacted gardai and provided the same number. Both calls were made by McAuley, the court heard.

A death certificate was later emailed to gardai by a firm of solicitors, who were unaware of McAuley’s deception.

During their investigation, gardai discovered three death notices for McAuley on RIP.ie.

The first stated that McAuley had died in France, and was removed after her mother told the site the defendant was not dead.

A second notice was uploaded to the site on January 4, 2023 by a fictional undertaker, created by McAuley.

This notice stated that McAuley had died on December 26, 2022 and included details of a funeral and cremation, with gardai confirming no records existed that these had taken place.

A third death notice appeared in McAuley’s Irish name, saying she had died in Belfast.Gardai contacted the general registry in June 2023 and obtained two death certificates for McAuley, one of which used her Irish name. Doctors confirmed they had not signed the death notification forms, which had been used to obtain these death certificates.

When interviewed by gardai on separate occasions, McAuley admitted wrongdoing. She told gardai she knew she was in trouble again, and believed everything would be okay if she was deceased because she could be with her young child. She also said she could not face going to court.

The court heard that gardai became aware that McAuley was due to attend a wedding in Enniscorthy in June 2023, and identified her from CCTV footage at the venue.

Gardai carried out a search of McAuley’s home in Co. Wexford on June 24, 2023. She was living there with her husband, who was unaware of her activities, and her young child.

A booklet of death notification forms were found during the search along with banking information and identification for ‘Winnie’ .

McAuley admitted ordering the nine phones from Three Ireland in 2020 and sending a false medical certificate to gardai in 2021. She also confirmed a mobile phone number used during these incidents was hers.

A payment of €9,000 to an AIB account in McAuley’s name was also identified during the garda investigation.

In January 2023, a Northern Irish company that McAuley had been working for was told she had died the previous month.

The company contacted ‘Charles’ by email, who was listed on McAuley’s employee records as her father, and he confirmed McAuley’s death.

While a claim for the company’s death-in-service benefit of €96,000 was pending, ‘Winnie’ contacted them in May 2023. ‘Winnie’ said she was minding McAuley’s infant child and needed money from the death-in-service benefit upfront to cover surgery costs for the child.

The company made a goodwill payment of €9,000 on May 15, 2023 into McAuley’s AIB account. This has not been repaid, the court was told

Investigating gardai agreed with Rebecca Smith BL, defending, that her client’s guilty pleas were valuable to the prosecution, that she has not come to recent negative garda attention and complied with bail conditions.

It was accepted that when gardai arrived to search her home in June 2023, she told them she knew why they were there and that her husband was not involved.

It was further accepted that McAuley acted alone, and there were no indications she had been living a lavish lifestyle.

Ms Smith told the court this was an “extraordinarily complex case” in which her client had engaged in a “significant period of offending”.

She said McAuley had been living a “crazy, chaotic existence” but this has now stabilised.

Counsel said her client is apologetic, aware that “her past is catching up to her” and accepts she is facing a custodial sentence.

McAuley married in 2022 and has a young child, who has health issues.

Letters of apology, medical reports and other documents were handed to the court. McAuley herself has medical and mental health difficulties.

Ms Smith submitted to the  court her client will have “no real prospect” of future employment,  suggesting that money could be deducted from social welfare payments to repay money owed.

The court also heard that the Director of Public Prosecutions appealed the sentence imposed on McAuley in 2015 on the grounds of undue leniency.

The Court of Appeal declined to change it, instead giving McAuley seven-and-half years to repay the money, but no further payments have been made.

The court was told McAuley was working as an assistant accountant in 2015 when a colleague saw a media report about her conviction. When asked about this, McAuley confirmed it was her and immediately resigned.

An internal investigation identified that McAuley had given her account details to some clients when her then-employer introduced a new electronic payments system. Affected clients believed they were making payments to the company.

One affected client made electronic transfers of approximately €49,100 to her account, to pay invoices owed to McAuley’s employer. This money has never been repaid to her then-employer, the court was told.

A Tipperary co-op also paid around €6,500 to McAuley’s account and she later forwarded on two payments totalling €6,550 to her then employer.

McAuley also stole nine mobile phones, worth €3,199, from Three Ireland in July 2020, which were ordered online using were ordered online using false documents which claimed that the company’s chief financial officer had placed the order.

When interviewed, McAuley said she used the money from the theft of the phones to cover rent and medication.

McAuley told gardai she had moved to Galway to run away from her troubles, but her life spiralled out of control.