Gleeson avoids jail for deception.

A three-and-a-half year suspended prison sentence has been imposed on All-Ireland winning Tipperary goalkeeper Darren Gleeson after he admitted obtaining €10,000 by deception from an elderly man who was a financial client of his.

Nenagh Circuit Court heard that the 36-year-old had a “significant gambling problem” for which he has been in counselling since 2015, having made a “large number of transactions” with Paddy Power, and also lost money through investments made prior to the economic crash.

Mr Gleeson, who is due to line out for the defending All-Ireland champions in their qualifier match against Westmeath this weekend, pleaded guilty this morning to a breach of section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001.

The State has entered a “nolle prosequi” in relation to the theft charges.

Detective Garda Martin Connolly told the court that, on different dates in 2013, Timothy Heenan had separate sums of €10,000 and €22,000 to invest. He gave cheques in these amounts to Darren Gleeson, who was the director of a financial services company in Nenagh at the time.

One cheque was made out to “D Gleeson” and the other to “Darren Gleeson”. The Garda told the court that there appeared to be some over-writing or under-writing on the €22,000 cheque, with the letters “PTSB,” for Permanent TSB, visible underneath.

He was asked to investigate the matter after Mr Gleeson’s own bank contacted the Gardaí with “concerns” about transactions. He met up with Mr Gleeson a number of times, on a voluntary basis, and on one occasion the accused said he had been given the money by Mr Heenan “as a loan”. He also said that Mr Heenan and himself signed a loan agreement. This was put to Mr Heenan who said the money “was not a loan” and was meant to be invested.

During one Garda interview, Mr Gleeson was asked if he had “a problem with gambling” as he was spending “vast amounts of money”.

The accused replied “I won’t deny I had a problem with gambling. I’m in the process of recovering from a problem I had with gambling, but I never asked for money for gambling.”

Mr Gleeson’s bank statements showed “a very large number of transactions in favour of Paddy Power,” the court heard, and in one statement a credit amount of €48,000 had reduced to €23,000 “in a short period of time”.

The money received from Mr Heenan had since been repaid, with interest, the court heard. Mr Heenan didn’t want to see Darren Gleeson go to prison and wanted him to continue hurling.

John O’Kelly SC, defending, said Mr Gleeson had a “serious problem with gambling” and handed in a report from a counsellor who said he had been attending counselling since September of 2015, sometimes twice weekly.

“At a certain stage, this was almost out of control,” Mr O’Kelly said. He had also invested in property and Contract For Difference financial products, which left him in debt after the financial crash.

The court heard Mr Gleeson is married, with three children, and had no previous convictions. Mr O’Kelly described it as “an unusual case and a tragic case”.

Judge Teehan said the most “glaring” aggravating factor was the “abuse of trust” committed by Mr Gleeson against Mr Teehan and that the total of €32,000 was “a not insignificant amount,” while the subterfuge involved and the explanations about it being a loan were also aggravating circumstances.

He imposed a three-and-a-half year prison sentence, suspended for three and a half years, and told Mr Gleeson to keep the peace for that time, continue attending counselling, and not to gamble in any form.