A judge has told a travel agent who stole from a children’s charity that he will consider not sending him to jail if he pays the money back.

Judge Patrick McCartan described what John Cornelius Murphy did as a “mean-spirited offence” and accused him of still not appreciating the seriousness of the crime.

Last Thursday, he was found guilty on all four counts of theft for lodging cheques totalling just over €18,600 from the Children to Lapland Appeal into his own personal account between June and July 2010.

Today, his barrister pleaded for leniency and asked the court to consider his client’s poor health and an otherwise clean criminal record.

Judge McCartan said he would consider a non-custodial sentence if the 66-year-old can find the money to right the wrong done.

Mr. Murphy is now running another charity called Make It Happen Foundation – which Judge McCartan said was “somewhat disturbing to hear”.

He said he wanted more detail on his involvement with that charity and granted him bail until his next court appearance on March 16.