Clogher man lodged cheque that arrived at wrong address

A CLOGHER man lodged a cheque for £3,000 into his bank account, that had been sent to him by mistake by the Credit Union.

The money was meant for a man at a different address but when it arrived at Charles McCartney’s home on the Fintona Road, he decided to keep it and lodged it with a bank.

At Dungannon Magistrates Court he admitted a fraud by misrepresentation and was sentenced to four months, suspended for 18 months. It was his first offence of dishonesty.

The crime came to light when the man due to receive the cheque, reported that he had moved address and did not receive it. It emerged that it went to McCartney’s home and he changed the christian name and lodged it in a bank in Dungannon. The court was told he has the same surname as the other man.

Defence barrister Fintan McAleer said the defendant co-operated fully with police and admitted the offence immediately.

Mr McAleer added, “The Credit Union told the bank it shouldn’t have gone into his account and it immediately brought home to him how stupid this was. It was August 2020 during the Covid pandemic restrictions and he was on half wages. It was opportunistic and he realises he shouldn’t have taken what appeared to be an easy option.”

Mr McAleer added that the defendant is now working full-time six days a week and was willing to do a community service order but did not know if he could get the time off to complete the hours.

District Judge Michael Ranaghan then opted to impose the suspended jail sentence.

He said to McCartney, “I was very tempted to impose a community order. You didn’t make a profit out of this but did stand to make a considerable profit if the bank hadn’t noticed. Fortunately no-one was at a loss.”

Refusing an application for legal aid, Judge Ranaghan stated, “He is on a high wage. He is lucky with the result he got today.”