Heartless thief stole dying friend's £7,000 funeral savings and left him to die penniless

• Ciaran Hoey was entrusted with friend's debit card to do his shopping
  
• He plundered the sick man's bank account and left it £99 overdrawn
• His friend died penniless, leaving his relatives to foot the funeral bill
• Hoey was jailed for two years after admitting 18 charges of fraud
  

By Kerry Mcqueeney

Published: 05:30 EST, 22 August 2012 | Updated: 08:02 EST, 22 August 2012

Jailed: Ciaran Hoey stole from his dying friend

A fraudster plundered his dying friend's funeral fund, leaving the sick man to die penniless.

Ciaran Hoey drank and gambled his way through £6,738 of Brendan O'Sullivan's savings after he was entrusted with the dying man's debit card to do his shopping.

Hoey, who has previous convictions for defrauding workmates and a former employee, cleared out the account and left it £99 overdrawn.

Mr O'Sullivan has since died penniless and his relatives were forced to foot the bill for the funeral - something he did not want to burden them with, Gloucester Crown Court was told.

Hoey, originally from Dublin, Ireland, was this week jailed for two years after he admitted 18 charges of fraud.

Describing the abuse of trust as 'despicable', Judge William Hart told Hoey: 'Brendan O’Sullivan was 80. He was in very poor health and he has recently died. He was a friend of yours and he had reposed a high degree of trust in you.

'You abused that trust in the most despicable way. The peace that he should have been entitled to find in his final days was contaminated by the memory of your betrayal.

'You used your access to his financial affairs to steal all his money from him - his modest life savings - and having stolen it you squandered it on yourself, on drinking, gambling and some consumer durables.

'When he died very recently the money he intended to put towards the cost of his funeral had gone. It is a case that is sad and in some ways tragic.

'It represents a breach by you of a high degree of trust.

'You had complete control over his affairs. One is tempted to say with your record: Once a fraudster, always a fraudster. You simply cannot divorce yourself from dishonesty.'

Hoey and Mr O'Sullivan had been friends for between 10 and 12 years after meeting at the Russell Arms pub, where they both regulars.

Hoey, originally from Dublin, Ireland, was jailed for two years at Gloucester Crown Court (pictured) after admitting 18 charges of fraud

Prosecutor Julian Kesner told the court: 'Mr O’Sullivan began to suffer from very, very poor health and eventually was unable to leave home.

'He became reliant on his old friend, the defendant, who would do his shopping for him.

'To assist with the shopping Mr O’Sullivan gave the defendant his debit card and his PIN.

'Unknown to Mr O’Sullivan his friend then started taking them money from his account.

'In two months the account went from a healthy credit balance to a debit of £99. There were in that time 28 cash withdrawals starting on February 3 this year for £300.

'Shortly after February 3 Mr O’Sullivan was admitted to hospital but while he was there the defendant continued stealing his money. All of a sudden he did not figure in Mr O’Sullivan’s life much any more.

'He did not visit him in hospital and Mr O’Sullivan spent a lot of time endeavouring to contact him to get his debit card back.'

Mr Kesner added that the last withdrawal on March 27 was for £180 and it left the account in the red.

He said: 'In total £6,738 was stolen. It was money he had accumulated very slowly over the years from his modest lifestyle and the small pension he was getting.

'In a statement he said that the money was for his family to pay for his funeral. His statement ends with him saying "I remain deeply upset and traumatised by the whole event".

'That statement was taken in June and Mr O’Sullivan has unfortunately recently died.'

The court also heard a statement from Paul Barratt, Mr O'Sullivan's nephew, who said his uncle 'gave up on life' after discovering what Hoey had done.

Mr Kesner added: 'Mr O’Sullivan’s mission was to make sure that he had enough money to cover his funeral expenses because he did not want it to be something his family had to pay for.'

Sarah Jenkins, defending, said Hoey was ashamed and remorseful about what he had done - especially since recently learning that Mr O’Sullivan had now died.

She added that Hoey had drink and gambling problems which were at the root of his offending, she said.

However, she said, he was anxious to repay Mr O’Sullivan’s family and was prepared to cash in a pension fund from his former NHS job to raise the full amount.

Ms Jenkins said: 'I hope Your Honour feels that is a genuine expression of how he feels about what happened in the final months of his friend’s life.'

Hoey pleaded guilty to 18 charges of fraud against Mr O’Sullivan with a further nine offences taken into consideration. He was jailed for two years.

In 2008, Hooey was jailed for 20 months at the same court after he admitted getting a hospital porter's job by failing to reveal his criminal past, stealing from a Christmas savings club at work before stealing £1,150 from a cafe where he worked.