Bank worker who stole €200k and tried to set branch on fire to 'cover her tracks' avoids jail

Fiona Magennis

It would be "unjust" to now jail a former Bank of Ireland employee who stole almost €200,000 from a branch and its customers before attempting to set the building on fire, the Court of Appeal has found, despite ruling that her original fully suspended sentence and community service order were too lenient.

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. The former bank official 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 for arson and four years in prison suspended for a period of six years for in respect of the theft offences 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”.

The Director of Public Prosecutions sought a review of the sentence on the grounds that it was unduly lenient.

Kevin White BL, for the DPP, 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”.

Mr Justice Alexander Owens said on Tuesday that the Court of Appeal did not propose to set aside the sentence imposed by the Circuit Court and resentence McCormack as “no useful purpose would be served by that course”.

However, he noted that there were “very peculiar circumstances” in this case and said the decision “was not an indicator” for any similar cases that might arise, but rather “the opposite.”

Mr Justice Owens said the court found that the sentences imposed on McCormack were unduly lenient because they did not impose any significant custodial element of imprisonment.

He said the sentencing judge “should have imposed concurrent custodial sentences of imprisonment of two years, at very least, on both the arson count and the theft count”.

It was “not appropriate” to suspend these sentences fully or substantially, the judge said, or to substitute a community service order for a sentence of imprisonment on the arson count.

Mr Justice Owens said that the principles of general deterrence and proportionate sentencing for offenders who commit largescale financial fraud will rarely allow credit for restitution to “whittle down” what would otherwise be a significant custodial sentence to a very short term of imprisonment, a fully suspended sentence, or a community service order.

However, he said in light of the process which led to imposition of these sentences, and the successful completion by McCormack of her sentence of community service, the court did not propose to impose custodial sentences on her at this stage.

“Her restitution was judicially mandated, and she has successfully completed her community service order,” he said. “It would be unjust for this court to unwind these results by sending her to prison now.”

At the undue leniency hearing, Mr White said McCormack had a position of trust and standing in the community when she defrauded her employer, Bank of Ireland, and its customers.

He said those factors alone should have resulted in a sentence but the arson “aggravated and elevated” the offending.

Mr White said there was an assertion that McCormack fell into the offending because of bills incurred for IVF treatment. He said the cost of the IVF was just over €22,000 between 2004 and 2014 and the offending continued “well beyond the need of that”.

However, McCormack’s senior counsel Roderick O’Hanlon 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.

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.

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.