Newbridge roofer who scammed elderly woman is jailed for 6 months

A Newbridge man who scammed €3,000 from a scared 84-year-old woman for unnecessary work on her home has been jailed for six months. John McCarthy Jnr, 21, escorted Kathleen Byrne from her thatched cottage in Raheny in Dublin on November 3 in 2014 and took her in his van with another worker to her local post office, Dublin District Court heard. She then handed over €3,000 for work that was not required. Judge John Brennan said McCarthy had ample opportunity on the journey to call a halt to his criminal enterprise. In her victim impact statement, the elderly woman said she 'is afraid to answer her door and locks herself in her house'. She was not present for the sentence hearing yesterday but in her statement she said: 'I feel like I am in prison, at night I'm afraid.' The judge imposed a six-month sentence on McCarthy, of the Lane, College Farm, Newbridge.