Taylor forged signatures on cheques before lodging them to his own business accounts

Tony Taylor forged signatures on the back of clients' cheques before lodging them to Taylor company accounts.

He placed money in an account in the name of Rolyat Ltd - Rolyat is Taylor in reverse - and drew money from the account for both company and personal reasons.

He also charged fees to the Society of St Vincent de Paul while telling them he would not do so, according to sources involved.

He used £185,000 (€234,900) of the society's money to try prop up his business.

The charity organisation's money was part of a sterling £500,000-plus (€805,000-plus) bequest left by a man in the UK specifically for the Sunshine Fund, used to finance a holiday camp located in Balbriggan, Co Dublin.

The camp, called Sunshine Home, is used to give holidays to underprivileged children.

The bequest, in the early 1990s, was made in the form of stocks and shares.

A member of Taylor's staff was involved with the society and used to regularly persuade Taylor to take out ads about his business in the society's magazine. Taylor managed the sale of the stocks and shares from the bequest and then became involved in managing the money for the fund until such time as it was ready to use it.

The charity had earmarked the money for the modernisation of the holiday centre. Two thirds of the cash was invested safely, as instructed.

The remainder, £185,000, was to be held in cash in the charity's name, so it could be called on when needed. In fact the money went into the general accounts of Taylor's business.

A retired woman, Ms June Anne O'Reilly, invested £50,000 with Taylor in February 1991. The money was subsequently lodged with Robert Fleming & Co, of Luxembourg.

In January 1995, at Taylor's recommendation, Ms O'Reilly authorised the transfer of the money to HSBC.

Taylor got Ms O'Reilly's cheque from Flemings, signed it on the back and lodged it to an account of the Taylor Investment Group with Anglo Irish Bank, the Isle of Man.

This money was then dissipated within Taylor's business.

Businessman Mr Patrick Milne invested £220,858 with Taylor in March 1990. The money was to be invested with Fidelity but was instead lodged to the account of Taylor and Associates Financial Services, Bank of Ireland, Dublin.

After the collapse of the Taylor group, Mr Milne got £70,000 back from Fidelity as a gesture.

Mr George O'Hara, retired, invested £205,000 with Taylor between April 1988 and March 1996. During the period he withdrew £69,000. Mr O'Hara's money was lodged to various Taylor group accounts as well as to an account of Rolyat Ltd.

Ms Joan Lynch invested £25,515 with Taylor in May 1991. The money was invested with Fleming & Co in Luxembourg.

On June 17th, 1996, Taylor told staff to redeem the Lynch money and a cheque for £31,246 was received payable to Ms Lynch.

Taylor signed her name on the back of the cheque and lodged it to the account of the Taylor Investment Group Ltd with the Royal Bank of Canada, Jersey.

Money was subsequently moved to Taylor group accounts and a Rolyat account in the Bank of Ireland, Westland Row, Dublin.