Ireland

Former GAA player jailed for 10 years over ATM thefts

Daniel O'Callaghan was jailed for 10 years yesterday
Daniel O'Callaghan was jailed for 10 years yesterday Daniel O'Callaghan was jailed for 10 years yesterday

A FORMER All-Ireland winner who stole an "eye-watering" sum of money as part of a cross-border gang that used stolen diggers to pull ATMs from walls has been jailed for 10 years.

Ms Justice Tara Burns told the Special Criminal Court in Dublin that Daniel O'Callaghan (32) took part in an "audacious" operation on behalf of a "well-oiled" criminal organisation that committed a series of ATM thefts and an attempted theft that was thwarted by gardai in 2019.

O'Callaghan of Monog Road, Crossmaglen was convicted last month of a number of offences relating to the thefts in Meath, Cavan and Monaghan in 2018 and 2019.

Co Monaghan brothers Ciaran and Gerard Duffy were last week each jailed for seven years and nine months and their older brother Stephen jailed for four years for their part in the same robberies after they had pleaded guilty to the charges against them.

Their co-accused, Niall Finnegan from Cherry Grove, Cullyhanna, Co Armagh, is already serving three years in jail for his part in the thefts.

Gardaí foiled the gang’s operation as they attempted their sixth ATM raid on Main Street in Virginia, Co Cavan on August 14 2019. They had stolen more than €700,000 in raids across the north-east.

O'Callaghan played a central role, the judge yesterday said, as a planner and active member of the gang.

She said O'Callaghan contested the charges against him despite being caught "red-handed" at the scene of an attempted ATM theft in Virginia.

He managed to escape when gardaí arrived, with the digger metres from the ATM. But O’Callaghan was recognised at the scene by two specialist gardaí.

His DNA was also found in a nearby outhouse, where it is believed he hid as his accomplices were arrested.

Gardai recouped €429,930 from a premises at Tullypole, Moynalty, Co Meath, which prosecution counsel Anne-Marie Lawlor SC said yesterday is the subject of Criminal Assets Bureau proceedings.

O’Callaghan, who won three All-Ireland club medals playing for Crossmaglen Rangers, denied all the charges but was convicted after a trial, of 16 offences, including theft, money laundering and possession of stolen money.

In returning judgement last month, Ms Justice Burns at the three-judge, non-jury court found O'Callaghan was "intimately involved" in the planning of the thefts, which followed a "modus operandi" that was seen in several other thefts that the court said were carried out by the same gang earlier in 2019 and in late 2018.

Ms Justice Burns yesterday said that O'Callaghan did not get the benefit of a guilty plea, but said the court would take into consideration that a number of witnesses were not required to give evidence during his trial because he did not contest certain issues.

She also considered a mitigating factor to be his involvement in his family and his local community.

Setting a headline sentence of 11 years for the most serious offences relating to his involvement in a criminal organisation, Ms Justice Burns said she would suspend the final year having considered the mitigating factors.

O'Callaghan has entered a bond to keep the peace for three years following his release or he could serve all or part of the suspended sentence.