Court told Midlands bank worker should have been jailed for €200k theft and trying to burn branch

A former Bank of Ireland employee who stole almost €200,000 from a midlands branch and its customers before attempting to set the building on fire showed a “total disregard” for public safety and should not have received a fully suspended sentence, the Director of Public Prosecutions has argued.

Maureen McCormack, (53), maintained that she stole the money to pay for debts incurred for IVF treatment.

She tried to set fire to the bank when she learned the branch was closing, fearing an examination of the accounts would bring her offending to light. McCormack has since paid back more than half the money.

McCormack of Esker, Banagher, Co Offaly pleaded guilty to arson at the Bank of Ireland branch in the town on October 6, 2021.

She also entered guilty pleas to three theft charges, including the theft of approximately €145,000 in cash which was the property of Bank of Ireland between January 1, 2017, and October 6, 2021. The 53-year-old further admitted stealing money to the approximate value of €33,419.50 from two individuals on December 2, 2013, and stealing €21,008.24 from two others on November 7, 2016.

McCormack was sentenced to 240 hours of community service in lieu of four years in prison in respect of the arson charge and a sentence of four years in prison suspended for a period of six years in relation to one of the theft charges by Judge Keenan Johnson at Tullamore Circuit Court in October 2024.

Imposing sentence, Judge Johnson noted: “It does appear to have been a desperate attempt on her part to cover her tracks when she engaged in an act of arson”.

Lawyers for the DPP on Tuesday, October 21 argued the custodial threshold had clearly been passed and the fully suspended sentence represented a substantial departure from the norm, encompassing no element of deterrence. They said the crime had involved “planning and manipulation” and McCormack had shown a total disregard for the safety of her colleagues and the public by starting a fire to “destroy and conceal evidence”.

However, McCormack’s legal team said the former bank employee had made restitution for a large portion of what was owed by cashing in her pension and the judge was entitled to use his discretion in fully suspending the four-year sentence. Submissions made to the court record that McCormack has paid over €115,886.82 in compensation.

The incident came to light on October 6, 2021, when emergency services were called to the Bank of Ireland branch in Banagher around 1pm. A fire had broken out in a storeroom, and evidence of a second fire was found inside the bank’s safe, but this had extinguished itself due to a lack of oxygen.

The damage to the property was estimated to be €10,000.

Following the fire, bank officials noted that the safe should have contained €169,160 but an inspection of the vault revealed it only contained €23,665, leaving a shortfall of €145,495.

Gardaí spoke to McCormack, who told them she had locked the safe at 4.30pm the previous day, at which time it contained €169,160. She said she called the fire brigade during her lunch break after learning the building was on fire, but claimed she did not know how the fire had started.

Upon reviewing CCTV footage, gardaí observed McCormack entering the vault on several occasions before the fire was reported and noted that she was the last person to leave it at 12.23 pm, approximately half an hour before emergency services were contacted.

McCormack was arrested two days later and, while being transported to the garda station, voluntarily admitted to taking money from the bank safe over a period of time to pay off debts. She made further admissions during three subsequent interviews, confessing to the theft and to starting the fires.

Bringing an application seeking a review of the sentence on the grounds that it was unduly lenient, Kevin White BL, for the DPP, said the case involved numerous incidents of offending with large sums stolen.

Mr White said there was “planning and manipulation” involved, and McCormack had a position of trust and standing in the community when she defrauded her employer, Bank of Ireland, and its customers.

The barrister said those factors alone should have resulted in a sentence but the arson “aggravated and elevated” the offending.

McCormack had shown a “total disregard” for the well-being and safety of her colleagues and members of the public by starting the fires in an attempt to “destroy and conceal evidence”, the barrister added.

Mr White said there was an assertion that McCormack fell into this because of bills incurred for IVF treatment. He said the cost of the IVF was just over €22,000 between 2004 and 2014 and the offending continued “well beyond the need of that”.

“The sentencing judge took the view - I say wrongly - that she didn’t personally profit from this. You couldn’t possibly take that view when you look at the amount owed, the cost of the IVF and how long it continued after. It simply doesn’t add up,” said Mr White. “He should not have reduced in the way that he did on foot of that assertion.”

In relation to the theft charges, Mr White said that having identified a headline of six years for two of the charges with the other two taken into consideration, there was “no way you could get to the point of reducing a four-year sentence down to nought”.

The barrister said the threshold warranting a custodial sentence had clearly been passed and “a non-custodial sentence simply wasn’t an option”. He said it was “clear as day” that what had been handed down by the judge represented a substantial departure from the norm.

“There’s no deterrent here,” he added.

In response, McCormack’s senior counsel Roderick O’Hanlon said the mitigation in the case was “substantial”. McCormack had cashed in her pension to pay for some of the money stolen and had entered a guilty plea at an early stage, said counsel.

This was behaviour which had “simply spiralled out of control”, Mr O’Hanlon said, going on to note that an attempt was made to “burn the evidence” once it became clear that the branch was closing, which would trigger an examination of the accounts and ultimately expose McCormack’s wrongdoing.

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Mr O’Hanlon said the judge had acknowledged that, under normal circumstances, the nature of the offending would warrant a custodial sentence. However, after considering all mitigating factors, including McCormack’s decision to cash in her pension, the judge exercised his discretion. He added that the Court of Appeal has previously recognised that sentencing judges have “substantial discretion” when dealing with cases involving “exceptional circumstances.”

“The judge, having examined all of the particulars of the case and all of the circumstances of the defendant -he described it as 'not being able to get blood from a stone' regarding the remainder of the restitution - he concluded he was entitled to exercise the discretion,” said counsel.

Mr Justice John Edwards said the court would reserve judgment in the case and deliver its decision at a later date.