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£15,000 swindler who preyed on Alzheimer's sufferer is jailed

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CO DERRY man who swindled more than £15,000 from an elderly Alzheimer's sufferer to pay for his wedding and gambling debts wept yesterday as he was jailed for eight months.

Last Friday at Antrim Crown Court Judge Desmond Marrinan warned conman Cormac McGuckin (29) that he faced an "inevitable" prison sentence for the "quite shocking" fraud.

Also ordering the married father-of-two to spend a year on supervised licence after his release, the judge said McGuckin had betrayed a vulnerable elderly person who had placed trust in him.

McGuckin, of Broagh village in Castledawson had earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation, 11 charges of theft and a further offence of impersonating a police officer, all between October 27 2012 and April 29 2013.

Roseanne McCormick QC, prosecuting, had previously outlined how McGuckin's frauds came to light when his victim James Halliday (71) told his son the bank had contacted him about transactions which had left him with a £10,000 overdraft.

When his son investigated it emerged that cheques had been lodged "either in favour of the defendant or his then fiancée Maura Marshall" whom he has since married.

Ms McCormick told the court there was "absolutely no question or suggestion" that Mrs McGuckin had done anything wrong.

At the time of the offences Cormac McGuckin had been working for Pieroth Ltd, a wine ordering and delivery company of which Mr Halliday was a customer and the two men had become friends, the lawyer said.

She said investigations revealed that McGuckin had used his victim's customer account to order around £2,000 worth of wine. Those transactions related to the two counts of fraud while the offences of theft related to McGuckin writing out cheques.

Arrested and interviewed, initially in May and again in December 2013, McGuckin claimed the money was a loan but later admitted the fraud.

Ms McCormick said that during an interview with a probation officer for the pre-sentence report, McGuckin had admitted using the money to pay for part of his wedding and to pay off gambling debts, also revealing that McGuckin had admitted doing something similar in his previous job.

On December 18 2012 at Antrim Magistrates Court, McGuckin was handed a one-month jail term suspended for two years when he admitted one count of fraud and 13 of theft when he "systematically" used his previous employers credit card facilities to steal around £1,000.

The last count of impersonating a police officer came when McGuckin telephoned the Wedded Bliss wedding shop in Portglenone.

Ms McCormick said McGuckin's soon to be wife had called to the shop to collect her tiara and wed-ding veil but could not because of police queries regarding credit card transactions.

Claiming to be a Constable Watters, McGuckin called the shop to say it was fine to release the items - behaviour labelled as "bizarre" by the judge.

A lawyer for McGuckin said his client was "genuinely contrite, genuinely ashamed and remorseful" for what he had done and deserved credit for pleading guilty at an early stage.

* 'SHOCKING' FRAUD: Cormac McGuckin arrives at court where he was jailed for eight months. McGuckin's frauds came to light when his victim James Halliday (71) told his son the bank had contacted him about transactions which had left him with a £10,000 overdraft