Courts / Dublin / Report

Dublin-based man on trial in Italy after disappearance of wife claims she was 'driver' behind mortgage scam

Date
2022-07-15

Stage
Sentence

Primary locality
Dublin

County
Dublin

Summary

Daniel Belling, a 49‑year‑old German national living in Dublin, was sentenced in his absence in Italy to a three‑and‑a‑half‑year suspended term for one count of dishonestly inducing the Bank of Ireland to grant a €112,500 mortgage on 13 March 2014. He used falsified documents—including a German ID card with an incorrect birth date, overstated payslips, altered bank statements and a P60—to apply for loans between 1 July 2013 and 27 January 2015. The court described the offence as a "classic white‑collar crime" and noted Belling's wife, missing since 2017, was alleged to have driven the scheme. Belling pleaded guilty, exercised his right to silence in 2018, and has no prior convictions. He is a primary carer for his two sons, aged nine and ten, and has been unemployed since 2017. The judge fully suspended the sentence, deciding not to imprison him.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Dublin-based man on trial in Italy after disappearance of wife claims she was 'driver' behind mortgage scam. Charges or matters: dishonestly inducing the Bank of Ireland to providing a mortgage loan of €112,500; using false documents to attempt to apply for loans. Procedural stage: sentence

When:

13 March 2014 Hearing Or Sentence
July 1, 2013 Incident
January 27, 2015 Incident
July 2013 Other
September 18, 2018 Hearing Or Sentence
2012 to 2017 Other
2022-07-15 Publication

Why: " The court heard that Belling had fallen into arrears on his mortgage repayments on the house on Malahide Road because the clients had failed to pay the rent. Court evidence reported by CNI

Case subjects

Daniel Belling

Defendant

Charges: dishonestly inducing the Bank of Ireland to providing a mortgage loan of €112,500; using false documents to attempt to apply for loans (Alleged Or Contested)

Outcome: Belling, a German national based in Dublin, has been given a three-and-a-half year suspended sentence after pleading guilty on his trial date to one count of dishonestly inducing the Bank of Ireland to providing a mortgage loan of €112,500 on 13 March 2014.