Elderly man duped of almost €100k

“Elderly people in society are entitled to be protected and feel safe in their own homes. This is the kind of thing that really goes and takes the rug right from under them. It leaves their confidence shattered,” a judge has said, sentencing a Mayo father-of-five to two years in prison for attempting to scam an elderly Redhillsman out of almost €10,000.
Jason Coffey (33) with an address C/o Castlerea Prison, Roscommon, operated the deception by telling Seamus Martin (82) he could get back some of almost €100,000 already stolen by a gang who preyed on the pensioner for the best part of four years prior to the incident before the court.
Guilty of gain by deception, taking €9,500 from Mr Martin at Moynehall, Cavan on July 14, 2009, Detective Garda Eileen Higgins gave evidence before Judge John D O’Hagan at Cavan Circuit Court last Wednesday.
She said that in mid-2005, Mr Martin was approached by a man with a four-year-old child telling him that his lorry had broken down. He claimed that it had plastic wrap on the trailer worth a quarter-of-a-million euros and he would need €3,000 to get it back on the road. The man gave his name as 'Denis O’Brien’, and Mr Martin gave him the cash on the promise he would be repaid the money.
Three weeks later Mr Martin, a farmer with 50 acres who was aged 71 at the time, received a phonecall to say the cheque he was given could not be cashed. The elderly man then withdrew the sum in cash to be handed over to the man named 'O’Brien’.
In total, over a period of four years, and handing various sums of money over to at least four different men, the gang extorted €87,842.72 from the pensioner, who told gardaí in interview that he “never got a shilling from them”.
In July 2009, Coffey called Mr Martin explaining how he knew of the payments made to the other men and telling the Cavan pensioner he may in the a position to get some of the money returned to him. However, it would cost Mr Martin a further €9,500.
Telling Mr Martin that he would meet the Cavan farmer on the Ballinagh Road at Moynehall, adjacent to the Nissan garage, Mr Martin handed over the sum agreed in a white envelope.
The court heard how Coffey produced his phone and called a man who Mr Martin recognised by his voice to be 'O’Brien’, who started to cry, saying he was sorry and that he would get the money back.

Suspicious
But Paddy Hyland, commercial manager at Ulster Bank, Cavan, had become suspicious of the large amounts of money being withdrawn from Mr Martin’s account. Reporting the incidence to gardaí, he asked Mr Martin what the €9,500 was for before processing the withdrawal, keeping record of the serial number of the notes. Mr Martin told Mr Hyland the money was for work being carried out to his house.
Sgt Sean Deely became aware of the incident after a phonecall from Ulster Bank and, at 6.40pm, observed Mr Martin arrive at Moynehall. Ten minutes later a Toyota Corolla driven by a person now known to be Coffey arrived at the scene and got into the car.
Once the transaction took place, Coffey left the area driving towards Ballinagh where he was apprehended by Det Gda Higgins and another member of An Garda Siochána. The envelope containing Mr Martin’s money was discovered on his person and recovered.

Fake letter
Said to now be living in Coventry, England with his wife and children after their home in Mayo was torched, Coffey told gardaí the money was a deposit for a “painting and a tarmac job”.
He handed a note to gardaí claiming it to be a written agreement with Mr Martin, which the pensioner told gardaí he had never seen before. Coffey, who is illiterate, later admitted that he had asked a 'refugee’ by the side of the road to pen the fake letter as a form of alibi.
Subsequently, Coffey, who has six previous convictions, skipped the jurisdiction only to be arrested in the UK and returned on foot of a European Arrest Warrant in March this year, remaining in custody since February 17.
Since then Coffey, who was joined in court by members of his family, has engaged in a number of education courses behind bars, with supervisors describing him to be “hard-working”.

Bleed money
Weighing up the offence in sentencing, Judge O’Hagan described Coffey as a “cog in the wheel” in the overall attempt to “bleed money” from Mr Martin, asking: “how else would he have known to call to the house?”
Commending the action of the bank, he said Coffey had been caught “red-handed”, noting that a major aggravating factor was that he had planned his part in the scheme and if “caught or questioned, that he had an explanation” by way of the scrawled note.
Saying that Mr Martin “didn’t deserve this kind of treatment”, Judge O’Hagan sentenced Coffey to two years.