The psychic fraudster deemed f it and proper to conduct weddings
Ex-con took savings from elderly couple ... still he can marry you for €490, and is a Leinster ref
THIS is the convicted fraudster ‘pyschic’ who is still legally entitled to perform State marriages.
Tom Colton is a minister for the Spiritualist Union of Ireland and the 43-year-old charges marrying couples up to €490 – plus expenses – for the ceremony.
Despite having a criminal record for theft and fraud, the dodgy former accountant, who claims to be a medium, is also a listed referee with Leinster Rugby. He was jailed for defrauding an elderly couple of their €300,000 nest egg.
The General Register’s Office, which is responsible for overseeing the register of solemnisers, those entitled to perform marriages, this week admitted that though solemnisers have to be ‘fit and proper’, it does not vet those on its registry. Instead, it relies on organisations who nominate the solemnisers to check, in this case the SUI. This is because it is the responsibility of nominating bodies to vouch for the suitability of those performing marriage ceremonies, and the Register’s Office has limited powers to reject a solemniser. The only criteria is that solemnisers are 18 or over and either a member or employee of the nominating group.
This weekend, the SUI, which Colton co-founded, claimed to the Irish Mail on Sunday that he ‘actually doesn’t do ceremonies at the moment’. This was only a day after telling prospective couples he is available to marry them.
And the businessman even boasted he already has bookings for 2022. He told one couple this week: ‘So in terms of a ceremony it really depends on yourself and your partner. We kind of build a ceremony around you.’
And when asked if he could perform a ceremony, he replied: ‘Yes I could, it really depends on the date you are looking to have the ceremony on. The more notice you can give the more likely you are of ensuring the date… we have bookings into 2022.’
Colton was given a two-and-ahalf-year jail sentence in 2015 after he pleaded guilty to stealing €300,000 from elderly Monaghan couple Hugh and Mary McNally. He took the cash in 2005 when he was involved in a $600m Caribbean island development, Sapphire Cove, on St Lucia, the court was told. Among those at the launch were the island’s prime minister and footballer Damien Duff. However, he later severed all links.
Evidence was given on how Colton convinced mother-of-seven Mary to give him a blank signed cheque to settle a tax bill. At the time, her husband was showing signs of Alzheimer’s. Colton filled in the cheque for €400,000, lodged it in an account he controlled and then transferred €321,000 to an American firm based in New Jersey.
Only €78,000 of the €400,000 was paid to Revenue and when sentencing the Celbridge, Co. Kildare, man Judge Michael O’Shea described the theft as ‘coldly calculated’. Colton was also given three six-month sentences for false audits. He told the MoS this weekend: ‘Sure, I’m on a list of registrars same as everybody else. What’s the problem?’
Last year 6.8% of all 21,053 marriages in Ireland were performed by SUI ministers and this weekend its president Mary Losty said: ‘We have, like, you have to be a member for a certain amount of time and we actually, the committee decides who becomes a minister, as such, so there’s kind of quite a lot of training involved.’ She also said: ‘There’s nobody on any of the registers that I know about that does Garda vetting.’
Leinster Rugby said: ‘All affiliated referees sign a declaration of intent, in which they must complete a self-declaration statement in relation to any pending or historical criminal matters. Those who may referee under-age children or vulnerable adults must also complete a Garda vetting check.’ They do not comment on specific cases.
The General Register’s Office stated: ‘The responsibility for nominating persons who are suitable rests with the nominating body.’
‘Nobody I know about does Garda vetting’