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Irish welfare fraud traveled from Thailand to claim thousands

Final total comes to almost a quarter of a million euro

By
ANDY MURPHY,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Sunday, February 19, 2012, 7:37 AM
Updated Sunday, February 19, 2012, 7:37 AM

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Paul Murray
Paul Murray


The 63-year-old Irish man who carried out the biggest social welfare fraud in the history of the state thinks his 12-and-a-half-year jail sentence is too hard and has launched an appeal against it.

Paul Murray claimed $1,578.00 a week using eight different aliases, traveling to Ireland from his home in Thailand once every three months to sign on. In total the fraud squad believed he enriched himself by over a quarter of a million euro.

But now his lawyers say his jail sentence was not "proportionate or reasonable" with the nature of the offense, appealing his sentence and arguing he should not be the poster boy deterrent to other social welfare scammers.

The Irish State is opposing Murray's application, insisting that his crime was in a league of its own, the biggest ever in the State in fact.

According to a report on 98FM.com the court will not make a decision on his appeal until next week, however one of the three Judges commented that if it wasn’t for the fraud of people like Murray there might not be as much hardship for genuine social welfare claimants.
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READ MORE:

Man with nine different names created massive benefits fraud from Thailand

Irish cycling star found dead at Thailand beach resort

Bizarre as Irish burglar receives $225,000 compensation from his victim in compensation claim

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See more: News from Ireland , Irish crime
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11 Comments

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seamus60 | Feb 20, 2012, 07:38 AM EST
Never got long enough and the other greeder bastard bankers should be serving time with him. Not like he was under pressure to survive and or spending his easy got cash back into the society he sucked it out of. Should it later transpire that this man was actually donating the lot (minus moderate travel expences) to one or more of the many deserving local charities who are being further squeezed as a result of the whiter than white, WHITE collar thieves. I apoligise. Some how don`t think he`s a real Robin but more of the Hood.

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IrelandNorth | Feb 20, 2012, 06:07 AM EST
Yep, LoyalCitizen! That's exactly what it is. The current Irish government are lapdogs of the undemocratic 'troika'. If someone defrauds the Dept. of Social 'Protection' (sic),, they deserve to be punished. But all this social welfare fraud is acase of IMF/ECB/EU inspired social hysteria, and serves to distract attention from corrupt bankers and their politicl apologees. There's more money to be saved by prosecuting the casino capitalists of the greedy banking system than going after Joe Sixpacks.

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LoyalCitizen | Feb 20, 2012, 05:43 AM EST
Sounds like good propaganda to me. Social Welfare bashing in America now. How does he sign on every three months when everybody else signs on every month? They must have special rules just for him.

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PatriciaMarya | Feb 19, 2012, 07:48 PM EST
I do agree with the idea that this man should be punished because he has made it harder for those who truly need help. I feel this way about the Octo-Mooch who took the lion's share of the money from Medi-Cal, thus greedily taking the care needed away from others. One question, however, he used 8 different alias - weren't these cross-checked by the social sservices division workers? Was this all before computers? Were there not any home checks? I am wondering if there was someone on the "inside" who was in on it. When exactly did he begin this crime set-up? So 4 times a year he comes in from Thailand and does what - goes to 8 different Services offices? It could not have been in just one office. If he can return the money, the solicitor/barrister can negotiate; if not, no deal. But exactly how long did this go on? $1,578 x 4 = $6,312 a month - Grand Larceny just in one month alone. Even if he pays it back to the penny, he serves time for absolute gall - unless he names his inside help.

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irishamerica46 | Feb 19, 2012, 04:49 PM EST
He should get more time unless he returns the money!!

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ciaradexy | Feb 19, 2012, 02:40 PM EST
Lock him up and throw away the key!

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merefalow | Feb 19, 2012, 02:05 PM EST
he the tip of an iceberg,stamp out all freeloding fraudsters, especially mp,s.the biggest fraudsters of all.

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cillowen | Feb 19, 2012, 01:43 PM EST
creepy crawly zero - blood sucking freak.

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Murph46 | Feb 19, 2012, 11:46 AM EST
Let's throw a pity party for this poor abused soul!

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Paradigm | Feb 19, 2012, 11:36 AM EST
Now it wasn't even the poor man's fault. It was, if one looks beyond the obvious, the Brits who were to blame. Was it not Westminster that initiated Social Secuity back in the late 40s?

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Nelsonbarry | Feb 19, 2012, 09:59 AM EST
He enjoyed the money, now he can enjoy the rewards.

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