Bank worker who stole €200k and tried to set branch on fire should have been jailed, DPP argues
Fiona Magennis
A former Bank of Ireland employee who stole almost €200,000 from a midlands branch and its customers before attempting to set the building on fire showed a “total disregard” for public safety and should not have received a fully suspended sentence, the Director of Public Prosecutions has argued.
Maureen McCormack (53) maintained that she stole the money to pay for debts incurred for IVF treatment.
She tried to set fire to the bank when she learned the branch was closing, fearing an examination of the accounts would bring her offending to light. McCormack has since paid back more than half the money.
McCormack of Esker, Banagher, Co Offaly, pleaded guilty to arson at the Bank of Ireland branch in the town on October 6th, 2021.
She also entered guilty pleas to three theft charges, including the theft of approximately €145,000 in cash which was the property of Bank of Ireland between January 1st, 2017, and October 6th, 2021.
The 53-year-old further admitted stealing money to the approximate value of €33,419.50 from two individuals on December 2nd, 2013, and stealing €21,008.24 from two others on November 7th, 2016.
McCormack was sentenced to 240 hours of community service in lieu of four years in prison in respect of the arson charge and a sentence of four years in prison suspended for a period of six years in relation to one of the theft charges by Judge Keenan Johnson at Tullamore Circuit Court in October 2024.
Imposing sentence, Judge Johnson noted: “It does appear to have been a desperate attempt on her part to cover her tracks when she engaged in an act of arson”.
Lawyers for the DPP on Tuesday argued the custodial threshold had clearly been passed and the fully suspended sentence represented a substantial departure from the norm, encompassing no element of deterrence.
They said the crime had involved “planning and manipulation” and McCormack had shown a total disregard for the safety of her colleagues and the public by starting a fire to “destroy and conceal evidence”.
However, McCormack’s legal team said the former bank employee had made restitution for a large portion of what was owed by cashing in her pension and the judge was entitled to use his discretion in fully suspending the four-year sentence.
Submissions made to the court record that McCormack has paid over €115,886.82 in compensation.
The incident came to light on October 6th, 2021, when emergency services were called to the Bank of Ireland branch in Banagher around 1pm.
A fire had broken out in a storeroom, and evidence of a second fire was found inside the bank’s safe, but this had extinguished itself due to a lack of oxygen.
The damage to the building was estimated to be €10,000.
Following the fire, bank officials noted that the safe should have contained €169,160 but an inspection of the vault revealed it only contained €23,665, leaving a shortfall of €145,495.
Gardaí spoke to McCormack, who told them she had locked the safe at 4:30pm the previous day, at which time it contained €169,160.
She said she called the fire brigade during her lunch break after learning the building was on fire, but claimed she did not know how the fire had started.
Upon reviewing CCTV footage, gardaí observed McCormack entering the vault on several occasions before the fire was reported and noted that she was the last person to leave it at 12:23pm, approximately half an hour before emergency services were contacted.
McCormack was arrested two days later and, while being transported to the garda station, voluntarily admitted to taking money from the bank safe over a period of time to pay off debts.
She made further admissions during three subsequent interviews, confessing to the theft and to starting the fires.
