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A MAN WHO stole nearly €76,000 in social welfare payments while running a courier business with an annual turnover of over €100,000 has received a suspended jail sentence.
Richard Burbridge (46) of Bluebell, Dublin, committed the offences while operating a courier contract for the Courts Service.
He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to eleven sample counts of stealing from the Department of Social Protection between April 2009 and December 2014.
Garda Thomas Burke told the court today that Burbridge collected the disability allowance payments on a regular basis from the post office in Inchicore.
The court was told Burbridge became eligible for the payments in 2009 because he was suffering from depression. The payments were conditional on his income not going over a certain threshold.
In the following years his courier business began making a turnover of up to €102,000, Garda Burke said. After expenses, his net profit ranged from €33,00 to €41,500. Burbridge had also inherited his family home mortgage-free from his parents.
Social deprivation
Judge Karen O’Connor said the case was unlike most other social welfare fraud cases which involved people dealing with social deprivation.
She noted that the offending only came to light when a former employee tried to assess social welfare benefits and found that there was no record of PRSI payments from that employment.
Garda Burke said that the total amount in overpayments that Burbridge received without entitlement was €66,961.
John Noonan BL, defending, told the court his client had already begun making monthly repayments of €400 and had paid back just over €10,000. He said it would take around 12 years for the total amount to be repaid.
Judge O’Connor suspended a sentence of three years for five years on condition that Burbridge continue to make monthly repayments to the department. She said if his circumstances changed in the five-year period the DPP could make an application to the court.
She said that people were more useful to the exchequer when they’re paying off the outstanding amounts rather than going to jail.
Noonan said his client no longer worked and no longer claimed any welfare benefits.
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This can’t be real, surely not.
@Hank: He was operating a courier contract for the Courts Service? Only in Ireland.
@Hank:
But Ruth Coppinger told me there was no such thing as welfare fraud……..
@Hank: Apple stole €13 billion and the Government don’t want the money or to know about it. Stalin said ” Kill one person and your a murderer, kill a million and your a conqueror”.
@Hank:Surly it couldn’t have been a very good back to work scheme.
If he is not working now and not claiming any social welfare now either then what is he doing for money?
@Carm(Orange Vampire): He probably gets horse racing tips from Bertie .
@Carm(Orange Vampire): Maybe hired people to do deliveries?
@Carm(Orange Vampire): he begging with his paper cup
So I can cheat the welfare system and not worry about going to jail. That’s handy.
@Craic head:
*if you pay it back with interest
@Avina Laaf: I’m personally happier seeing him paying fraud back than seeing him in jail (and me paying for it).
@Craic head: yes they don’t have the prison spaces here! And if you were locked up it would cost about 2k per week
For. The. Courts. I’m reading that right yeah??
Well done Garda Burke…great crime man I’d say. This country needs to have these social frauds outed and prosecuted.
@Michael Cleary: stupid comment. If Garda Burke was any good he wouldnt have waited until this man stole 76,000. Crap crime man as you call him.
@zippo: They’ll only go after the small fry. Big boyos get a free pass.
@james mulhall: you seem to have a problem with period of time it took to catch Mr Mulhall which is one argument but you also seem to have an issue with either Garda Burke or the Guards in general.if it’s the guards in general I can’t help you but I think Garda Burke in this instance is to be commended for bringing a successful prosecution to term. As to the sum of money taken,there’s an issue that perhaps rests best with the department of social welfare and the checks and balances they employ in their department!
@zippo: he’s only one man.but I wouldn’t put it past this Garda.He seems to be driven and single minded.could do with a lad like him after all tax defaulters
Where are all the usual commentators on here saying people like this thief should be left alone because the banks were bailed out????
@Theunpopularpopulist: I think the Guards should leave this man be and go after the real crooks who we bailed out.
@Theunpopularpopulist: The fact they aren’t here suggests to me they don’t exist.
@WinSomeLoseSome: no there’s a few of them alright …
TDs bein doin it for years n getin away it
@Brian Begley: I never realized TD are claiming dole payments
@Brian Begley: well the one’s you have in your you elected, democracy, you carry the blame too!
Force sale of house. Plenty of buyers. Pay bill. Go to prison. Soft kip.
@Fake Avast: no just sell his house, give him the remains. Simples
Only in good old Ireland
Tv licence guy called today. Thought I’d better buy a licence before he comes back. Then I read this and now I think i might not bother!!!
@Mrs parrott: don’t even entertain this license scam.
Wait at minute… You can get “disability” payments for being “depressed”? FFS, I’ve heard it all now.
@Eustace H Plimsoll: yes also if you’re an alcholic or drug dependent
Shocking he did not get a prison sentence but for all we know he could have friends high up in the FF or FG party after all he was a successful businessman, he is nothing but a greedy rich thief that wanted more.
There must be many more like him out there and the real crime is that the state hasn’t the wherewithal or will to detect them. The philosophy is prosecute a few and hopefully frighten the many.
@winston smith: There is an entire section of people dedicated to fraud detection. They are also trying to stamp out fraud by the PSC which the public have been objecting to. How do you think he was caught?
Aw that’s nice
Pure comedy. What’s the point in reporting anything now? I recently read about a house breaker from Neilstown. With 37, yes, 37 previous convictions he got two years suspended, lol, coz his ma was on drugs and he had no da!
For once proper justice! And right under the courts noses!
Eh why no jail
@Ian James Burgess: no spaces in the jails
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