Guilty of online property letting scam

AN ONLINE property letting scam landed Alice Presley from Ballyredmond in Clonegal before the District Court.

Judge Gerard Haughton was told how the defendant set up a Facebook account advertising property to rent.

However, there was no property, though she profited from would-be tenants who gave her a total of €1,625 for no return.

The defending barrister noted that his client had no previous convictions and that she was keen to pay compensation to them in full.

He described her as generally good person, now living with her parents and hoping to land a job working with horses.

However, he suggested that she had come under the influence of a person for a while and that this led to the offences.

Judge Haughton said that this appeared to be the case and he was prepared to leave Ms Presley without a conviction once full compensation is paid.

He told her to put aside €100 per month and adjourned to May when this arrangement will be reviewed.