Michael McGauley has five-year deception and theft sentence increased

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Michael McGauley had his sentence for five counts of deception and theft increased to five years by the Court of the Appeal on 7 February 2022, with Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy presiding. The appeal court quashed his original three-year term after the State challenged it as unduly lenient.

McGauley pleaded guilty at Monaghan Circuit Criminal Court to offences committed between February 2016 and October 2018. Judge John Alymer had ordered the original sentences to run concurrently; the report said they were handed down in October 2020.

The appeal court ordered McGauley to surrender to prison authorities on 16 February, when he was due to report under temporary-release arrangements. His counsel sought one month to arrange his affairs, citing part-time work and a gambling addiction he said had been overcome for more than two years, but the application was refused.