Thomas Byrne sentenced to 16 years for theft and fraud

Former solicitor Thomas Byrne has been sentenced to 16 years after being convicted of stealing €52 million from the banks and defrauding 13 clients out of their houses or money.

He will spend 12 years in jail after he was sentenced by Judge Patrick McCartan to 16 years - with four suspended - at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court this afternoon.

Last month, the jury returned guilty verdicts on all 50 charges of theft, forgery and deception yesterday after deliberating for 17½ hours over the course of six days.

The trial, which lasted 27 days, is the largest theft case in the history of the State and the jury was unanimous in convicting Byrne on all counts.

Judge McCartan said the evidence was overwhelming against Byrne and that the jurors’ decision was “almost inevitable”.

Mr Byrne (47) of Mountjoy Square, Dublin was accused of theft and fraud offences totalling €51.8 million. The charges alleged Byrne transferred clients’ homes into his name and then used them as collateral for property loans. He was also accused of using invalid collateral to fraudulently borrow millions from six financial institutions.

He had pleaded not guilty to 50 counts of theft, forgery, using forged documents and deception between 2004 and 2007.

The trial, which was the first to digitally display exhibits on computer screens throughout the courtroom, was divided into two modules. The first module dealt with how Byrne signed his clients’ homes into his own name without their knowledge using forged signatures. His victims included his close friend, a 91-year-old woman and an investment partnership of three gardaí.

The second module detailed how Byrne used the same properties as collateral to borrow €51.8 million. These offences involved Anglo Irish Bank, Irish Nationwide Building Society, KBC, Bank of Scotland Ireland, National Irish Bank and EBS. Byrne offered no defence to the allegations concerning the banks except claiming he was being threatened by his former business partner, property developer John Kelly, into taking out the loans.

Regarding the clients’ properties, Byrne claimed they had transferred them to him willingly in return for payment at a later date.

According to the prosecution, “the house of cards collapsed” on October 18th, 2007.

Byrne's employee, solicitor Barbara Cooney, discovered he had forged her name on a document to borrow money. She reported him to the Law Society.