A Wicklow solicitor who fraudulently borrowed nearly €1 million in mortgage bridging loans in an “elaborate and sophisticated deception” has been jailed for three years.
Mother of two Mary Miley (56), along with mortgage broker Noel Ryan (67), used forged documents to take out loans as part of a plan to buy and develop residential property. All the money borrowed is now gone.
Miley of Duncairn Avenue, Bray, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sample charges under the Theft and Fraud Act between January 2006 and February 2008.
Ryan of Ballinapierce, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, pleaded guilty to a single charge under the same act of aiding and abetting Miley. Judge Leonie Reynolds suspended a jail term of 18 months on Ryan on condition that he fully pay back the money he stole within that time.
False passport
Miley used a false passport and driving licence to apply for three loans totalling €750,000 from Secured Property Loans Mortgages (SPL) in October 2007 and February 2008. She also obtained a short-term mortgage from Start Mortgages of €179,100 in January 2006.
Now retired and in receipt of an old-age pension, Ryan was the mortgage broker who acted as an accomplice to Miley. He transferred on two of the loans to SPL even though he knew the applications were made out to Mary Doore, which was the solicitor’s maiden name.
Reprehensible
Judge Reynolds said that Miley had violated her position of trust in a most reprehensible manner.
Together Miley and Ryan drew down €750,000 from SPL. Ryan received €11,400 as commission. The court heard that none of this has been repaid and the money was spent in the buying and building of development sites which the pair had hoped to sell on for profit.
The mortgage from Start Mortgages has been fully discharged, Feargal Kavanagh SC, defending Miley, said.
Judge Reynolds said: “She engaged in a sustained duplicity over time as part of an elaborate and sophisticated deception.”
She said there was no evidence that Miley had made any material gain or enjoyed a lavish lifestyle. She said that before her “fall from grace” Miley was a hard working and well-respected solicitor.
She said that Miley suffers from anxiety and depression but that these conditions had not impeded her ability to carry out the offences. The Law Society removed Miley from the roll of solicitors in 2009.
Ryan is a former carpenter and fitter whose business closed in the 1990s. He retrained as an insurance and mortgage broker.
He is now extremely unwell and has been diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s disease. Judge Reynolds noted that his health issues may have impeded his judgment at the time.
Ryan brought €4,400 to court as compensation and indicated that the balance of the money he had taken would be repaid.
Judge Reynolds imposed two concurrent sentences of three years imprisonment on Miley and ordered that she receive psychiatric assessment as a matter of urgency.