The Court of Appeal reduced Jacqueline Durcan’s 12-month prison sentence to six months after allowing her appeal against the severity of sentence. It did not disturb the Circuit Court’s conclusion that the offence required custody.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Birmingham on 23 January 2017, said the appeal concerned a sentence imposed by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 8 December 2016. Durcan, a solicitor who had practised as a sole practitioner in her family firm in Co Mayo, had been struck off the Roll of Solicitors after the matter came to light.
In February 2011, after learning that the Law Society was preparing a routine practice audit, Durcan told it there was a deficit in her client account. Subsequent analysis put the shortfall at about €250,000. The judgment said transactions between 2008 and 2011 involved money taken from the client account, with all but one used for purposes related to the practice. In 2010, €51,500 was withdrawn to pay stamp duty on the purchase of her family home.
The Law Society referred the matter to the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation. The judgment recorded that Durcan cooperated with the investigation and made an early plea. Clients potentially at a loss were compensated through the Solicitors’ Compensation Fund, which was fully reimbursed by the end of 2014, with assistance from Durcan’s mother and fees received after the practice ceased.
The Circuit Court treated the amount, duration and multiple transactions, as well as Durcan’s position as a solicitor, as aggravating factors. It also considered her cooperation, admissions, plea, full reparation, loss of her profession and practice, and personal circumstances, including that she had five children. It imposed 12 months’ imprisonment.
On appeal, the Court of Appeal found no error in the decision that a custodial sentence was required. But it held that a shorter term could meet the sentencing purpose. The court cited the appellant’s good character and contributions to society, the substantial mitigation, and the particular burden of serving a sentence apart from her husband and children, who had moved to Brussels. The court said that the family separation had not been explored in detail at the original sentencing hearing, but was significant.
The Court of Appeal resentenced Durcan to six months’ imprisonment, reducing the term from 12 months. The judgment does not set aside the custodial sentence.