A MAN alleged to have used nine identities to defraud the State of more than €250,000 has offered to plead guilty to all charges to save the State money.
Mullingar District Court heard how solicitors for Paul Murray (63), of no fixed abode, wrote to the Director of Public Prosecutions offering to plead guilty to all charges of theft from social welfare offices in Cavan, Meath and Westmeath.
However, solicitor Redmond O’Regan said their offer, which was made to save the State time and money, had not been taken up.
He made the comments as part of a request to Judge David Anderson to consider releasing Mr Murray, who was refused bail last week.
The court heard that Mr Murray had been returning from Thailand once every three months using nine different identities to claim disability and jobseeker’s allowances, as well as supplementary welfare allowance since 2006. He has not had a permanent address in Ireland since 1974.
Yesterday Insp Fergus Treanor asked that Mr Murray be remanded in custody for one month because of the lengthy investigation into his offences.
Currently only sample charges relating to three identities were before the court, but the inspector said the number of further charges that could be put to Murray was considerable.
Mr O’Regan said he had seen the paper work against his client and it was sufficient to merit the maximum penalty. Mr Murray appeared calm in court and did not speak during the brief hearing.
In the absence of DPP directions in the case, Judge Anderson refused to revisit the previous bail application and adjourned the case to December 2nd, with Mr Murray agreeing to a remand in custody.
This does not prevent him making a High Court bail application during that time.
Last week Garda Peter Kelly told the court how he had arrested Mr Murray as he left the social welfare office in Cavan on October 19th where he had falsely claimed in the name of Thomas Murray.
When arrested, he had eight false British driver’s licences, 10 false Irish birth certificates and one British birth certificate, as well as three passports, one of which was in his own name.
Mr Murray has previously used the names Patrick Adrian Kelly and Patrick Murray. His reply to the sample charges was “I accept this” and his solicitor has indicated that he never attempted to deny any of the matters put to him arising out of the investigation.