{"id":402147,"date":"2026-04-16T19:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T19:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/402147\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T19:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T19:55:11","slug":"foxrock-golf-club-accountant-jailed-for-stealing-almost-e30000-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/402147\/","title":{"rendered":"Foxrock golf club accountant jailed for stealing almost \u20ac30,000 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

An accountant who stole almost \u20ac30,000 from the golf<\/a> club she worked for has received a partially suspended prison sentence of three years.<\/p>\n

Cheryl Robinson (49), of The Woods, Laragh Road, Rathdrum, Co Wicklow, pleaded guilty at Dublin<\/a> Circuit Criminal Court<\/a> to 10 sample charges of theft from Foxrock<\/a> Golf Club on dates between October 2018 and July 2020.<\/p>\n

Robinson has a previous conviction for a similar type of offending committed against a former employer. She pleaded guilty in 2010 to 72 charges of theft, resulting in a total loss of \u20ac125,000.<\/p>\n

She was jailed for two years by Judge Martin Nolan in July 2010 for this offence. At the time, she was using the name Cheryl Byrne.<\/p>\n

Judge Orla Crowe said this was a significant breach of trust perpetrated by someone in a position of financial control with a previous conviction for the same type of offending. She set a headline sentence of four years.<\/p>\n

She noted that it was an unsophisticated series of thefts, with Robinson transferring money routinely and regularly to pay bills as they arose. She noted evidence of mental health issues and Robinson\u2019s difficult personal circumstances.<\/p>\n

She suspended 18 months of the sentence on condition that Robinson keep the peace and be of good behaviour and engage with the Probation Service after her release.<\/p>\n

Garda Padraig Nagle told prosecuting barrister Kieran Kelly that in May 2020, staff at the golf club were unhappy with certain balances in the club\u2019s accounts, and Robinson was approached.<\/p>\n

The staff were unhappy with Robinson\u2019s responses to their questions, and it was decided that a \u201cfull-scale forensic investigation\u201d should be carried out on the accounts, with a focus on bank reconciliation.<\/p>\n

It was discovered that Robinson had been directing the payments for suppliers into her own bank account rather than the suppliers.<\/p>\n

Nagle agreed that the \u201ctransactions were readily identifiable\u201d. Garda\u00ed attended at Robinson\u2019s home, and she later came to the station, but she made no admissions during subsequent Garda interviews.<\/p>\n

Nagle agreed with defending barrister Ronan Kennedy that Robinson separated in 2022 and is the sole carer for her three children, aged 16 to 24. It was accepted that she has not come to further Garda attention.<\/p>\n

She receives no financial support from her former husband, is in arrears in her mortgage and has a credit union loan of \u20ac40,000, counsel told the court. Kennedy said his client was \u201cdeeply ashamed\u201d and acknowledged that she had \u201clet so many people down\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe sincerely wishes she could turn back the clock, but she clearly cannot do that,\u201d counsel said.<\/p>\n

Kennedy suggested that Robinson was \u201ca woman who was vulnerable and clearly trying to do her best by her children\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said that the theft was always going to be uncovered. \u201cIt was just a question of when the merry-go-round was going to stop,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An accountant who stole almost \u20ac30,000 from the golf club she worked for has received a partially suspended…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13553,615,41806,3474,61,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-402147","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-circuit-court","9":"tag-dublin","10":"tag-foxrock","11":"tag-golf","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}