Con men steal €367k – leave pensioner penniless

Date Published: 17-Dec-2009

Two con men described as “Angels from Heaven” by a naive, elderly Oranmore widow whom they have left penniless by extorting an estimated €400,000 from her bank accounts.

Conor Murphy (42), a native of 51, Davis Road, Shantalla, with an address at 116 Castlepark, Ballybane, Galway, who was the “brains” behind the scam pleaded guilty before Galway Circuit Criminal Court this week to six sample charges of inducing Mrs. Mary Ellen Walsh (71), a native of Glenascaul, Oranmore with a more recent address in Craughwell, to make 49 cheques payable to him over an 11-month period between December 2006 and October, 2007, totalling €367,100.

Conor Murphy and his brother, Jimmy Murphy (46), with an address in Mallow, Co. Cork, who pleaded guilty to extorting €28,500 from the victim, got wind from a mutual friend that Mrs. Walsh had sold her home along with five acres of land at Glenascaul, in 2006 for €4 million and they quickly moved in to con her out of her savings.

Mrs. Walsh had, in fact, received €3.3 million from the sale and she gave half of the money to her only son who lives in Cork, bought a new home for herself in Craughwell for €335,000 and put the remainder of the money in a deposit and a current account in permanent TSB in Galway city.

Conor Murphy convinced Mrs. Walsh he owned 35 acres of land in Moycullen and would sell it to her for €150,000, claiming she would make a huge profit in the transaction by selling it on to developers.

He owned no such lands, yet he extorted €9,000 from her for fake planning and architectural fees.

He quickly found out she had cancer and he told her he was suffering from cancer too to draw her into his confidence. He brought a faith healer into her house, claiming she could be cured and he claimed he was having visions of her dead brother.

“They began bringing religious objects into the house and she really believed she had met two angels from heaven,” Det. Sgt. Martin Glynn, from Gort Garda Station, who investigated the matter, told the court.

He described Mrs. Walsh as a trusting person who was very religious but who was also very naive.

“She is in financial ruin and has only her pension to survive on now. She has no other asset except her house,” he said.

Det. Glynn explained Mrs. Walsh’s father had owed a farm at Glenascaul and she returned home in the 1960’s having spent a number of years in the U.S. working as an air hostess.

She got married and lived on the family farm raising two daughters and a son. One daughter now lives in Dublin and the other in Cork.

Her husband died in the 1970’s and most of the family farm was repossessed by the banks, leaving her with just the house and five acres of land. She always felt aggrieved that she had been done out €120,000 by the banks and a local developer at the time.

Conor Murphy took advantage of this grievance. He told her he was in the IRA and would use the “services” of the Border Fox, Dessie O’Hare, to take care of the local developer (named Dooley in court), whom Mrs. Walsh felt had benefited from the repossession of most of her farm.

“She says she will never forget the day they were at the house and they told her they had shot Dooley who was a developer years ago. She was told Conor had shot Dooley. Jimmy had a revolver and she was told the gun was used to shoot Dooley,” Det. Glynn said.

The court heard Dooley had gained from the “above board” repossession of Mrs. Walsh’s land and had ended up with a portion of it which he subsequently developed. He was never shot, Det. Glynn added.

He said Mrs. Walsh was now living in fear of the brothers and felt that if they didn’t attack her they would get someone else to do so.

Judge Raymond Groarke said the whole thrust of the evidence was that the woman believed she would be getting the lands in Moycullen which Conor Murphy never owned. he was informed by two defence teams representing both accused that there was no compensation available to repay Mrs. Walsh as both men were in receipt of invalidity allowances.

Both accused walked briskly from the courtroom as Judge Groarke adjourned sentencing in the case to January 13. He remanded the brothers on continuing bail to that date and directed the preparation of probation reports.