€537,000 on deposit when man wrongly claimed social welfare

His false claim for unemployment payments was so serious that Edward Sherlock of Clonganny, Dunamore, Ballygarrett was handed a four month prison sentence, suspended at Wexford District Court by Judge Bernadette Owens,

The court was told that Sherlock received €69,000 to which he was not entitled in job seeker’s allowance after indicating that he and his wife had no savings when in fact they had hundreds of thousands of euro in the bank.

The case against the man in his early 50s was brought after Revenue Commissioners alerted social welfare officials to the fact that substantial DIRT tax payments had been made on funds held in his name or in that of his wife.

The case dated back to 2009 around the time when the couple had €537,000 on deposit in the name of Mary Sherlock, the judge was informed by retired social protection official Catherine Dempsey.

At one stage in the investigation, Edward Sherlock told investigators that he spent €250,000 buying a house from his brother and adding a €20,000 extension to the property, while a further €350,000 went on drink and gambling.

By the time the matter came to court it appeared that he was living a modest lifestyle and that he had repaid just €872 of the €69,000 claimed by the prosecution.

He was not now being paid social welfare, stated State Solicitor Kevin O’Doherty.

Defending barrister Laura Cunningham said her client suffered back problems which interfere with his employment prospects.

Father of a young son, he was surviving on the children’s allowance and occasional gifts of €100 from his brother.

The judge noted that there was no real prospect of the money which had been falsely claimed being repaid and described the offences before the court as serious.

She also noted on the other hand that the defendant had no previous convictions on his record before suspending the four month sentence.