Man used dead brother's identity to dupe State out of €93,000 in benefits

A pensioner now living in Glenties duped the State out of more than €93,000 by using the identity of his dead brother.

Aidan Byrne, a 75-year-old of Ard McGill in Glenties, was charged with a raft of theft and fraud offences at Donegal Circuit Court.

Byrne, originally from Wexford, claimed the benefits between 2015 and 2021 and was only caught when sharp passport officials spotted something amiss when he applied for a passport in his own name.

Byrne's brother, Anthony Joseph Byrne, died tragically when he drowned in England in 1972.

When Byrne relocated to Ireland, having emigrated to the UK in the 1960s, in 2000, he set up a bank account in the name of his dead brother. In 2001, he managed to obtain a PPS number in his brother's name from the Department of Social Protection.

A passport and birth cert in the name of the deceased was used.

In August, 2014, a photograph was uploaded to the Department of Social Protection database in the identity of Anthony Joseph Byrne.

Between June 2015 and August 2021, pension and fuel allowances totalling €83,157.20 were paid to an Ulster Bank account.

In June, 2012, Byrne obtained a medical card and availed of €10,858 worth of benefits via this method.

Detective Garda Paul Lynch told the court how Byrne's scheme was unravelled when, in 2019, he made a passport application in his own name. The passport office, Detective Garda Lynch said, spotted similarities in the image provided and that on the file of Anthony Joseph Byrne.

“They were identical,” Detective Garda Lynch said.

A search was conducted of Byrne's home and a death certificate in the name of Anthony Joseph Byrne, who died in a drowning accident in Epping in December 1972, was recovered.

Byrne was arrested and taken to Ballyshannon Garda Station. Officers seized €2,840 in cash and the sum of €16,238.66 remains frozen in an Ulster Bank account.

Byrne was interviewed once and pleaded guilty. Detective Garda Lynch said Byrne, who has no previous convictions, was fully cooperative with Gardai.

Byrne pleaded guilty to using a false instrument, a passport application date April 29, 2011, in the name of a deceased person, Anthony Joseph Byrne.

The accused pleaded guilty to a count of forgery, in that he used a false instrument, an application form to the HSE for a medical card and a GP visit card in the name of a deceased person, Anthony Joseph Byrne on October 4, 2011.

The defendant pleaded guilty to theft, dishonestly appropriating €235.50 without consent from the Department of Social Protection on March 11, 2016, from an Ulster Bank account held at Ulster Bank, Ardara.

Byrne also pleaded guilty to dishonestly appropriating €104.83, the property of the HSE, on August 23, 2013, at Ardara Pharmacy.

Barrister for the State, Mr David Keane, said there was a number of other charges which could be taken into consideration by the court.

The court heard that €57,000 of the monies remain outstanding and Byrne is paying back €50 a week to the State.

In the witness box, Byrne said he had lost the respect of his three daughters and extended family. He said his only income at present was his pension.

He admitted, under questioning from his own barrister, Mr Colm Smyth SC, that he would have to 'live a considerable number of years to repay' the money.

“It was a very bad idea,” Byrne said.

Mr Smyth said his client is a stroke survivor with cardiac concerns. “He is an elderly gentleman and a vulnerable individual as far as his health is concerned,” Mr Smyth said.

“This was a remarkable fall from grace for a man who worked all his life and never had any dealings with law enforcement. He is not a man of means.”

Mr Smyth said his client had confronted the matter when he was caught. “These can prove to be very technically difficult and laborious,” he said. “The Probation Service are satisfied that he is of a low-risk of reoffending and prison would be a considerable hardship.”

Mr Smyth asked the court to be 'as lenient as possible'.

Judge John Aylmer adjourned the matter to the Letterkenny Circuit Court session in May.