Dan MacCarthy is now safely back in Ireland

Mr Sheedy had claimed to have turned his life around after he swindled thousands of euros from innocent victims through a series of elaborate cons.

Back in 2023, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and last month, he spoke to Brendan O’Connor on RTÉ Radio about his experience living with cancer.

The Co Down novelist will be based at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast for two years.

Jan Carson said she wanted to address the under-representation of rural Northern Ireland experiences in literature