Gardai are investigating an attempt to hoax a convicted child abuser into delivering £10,000 to an office in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, last year.
The Circuit Court sitting in Tullamore, Co Offaly, was told by Det Garda Michael Dalton that in mid-December he had received a call from the defendant, Donal Dunne, that he was sorry he had not kept their appointment.
"For a minute or two I did not realise what he was talking about. It transpired he believed that I called him about compensation for some of the injured parties," he said.
The caller had told Dunne to bring £10,000 in cash to the County Registrar's Office in Mullingar.
