Noel Hayes acquitted of forging will

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

Noel Hayes was acquitted of forging a will at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, reported on 2 February 2015. The jury found him not guilty after nearly two and a half hours of deliberation on the ninth day of the trial. Hayes, a Wexford businessman from New Ross, had denied forging Matthew Hayes’s will between December 1998 and January 1999.

William O’Leary was also acquitted. The prosecution’s main witness, Charlie O’Leary, had previously pleaded guilty and received an 18-month suspended sentence, along with an order to pay €30,000 into an account pending for the next of kin.