Crumlin family face theft charges

A Crumlin family who were ordered back from the southern hemisphere on the orders of a judge, are to stand trial next month accused of stealing over £50,000 from a charity, in Lurgan.
By The Newsroom
Published 18th Feb 2015, 14:00 BST
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Declan Shannon (44), his wife Tracey Magee (48) and her son Niall Atkinson (24) face charges relating to taking money from Lurgan based Together 4 All.

The family who appeared last Wednesday, for a short preliminary enquiry at Craigavon Crown Court were bailed to appear for arraignment next month.

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The three confirmed they were aware of the charges and that they were not objecting to the legal move, committing their case to the Crown Court for trial.

Magee, a former Chief Executive of the charity with an address of Ada Baker Street, Forde, Australian Capital Territory, faces 23 counts of false accounting.

She also faces five of transferring criminal property, one of stealing laptop computers and an iPod docking station between 27 October 2008 and 23 June 2011.

The other charges of false accounting relate to the creation of allegedly false invoices amounting to £50,541, with many of the monies being paid to Magee’s husband Shannon, her son Atkinson or to D S Autoplex.

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Shannon, of the same address, faces three counts of possessing criminal property amounting to £10,837 while Atkinson, from Laurelvale in Crumlin, is charged with a single offence of possessing £3,600 of criminal property.

Before granting bail Judge Kelly checked where all would be living in this country, while the proceedings were being dealt with.

The judge heard that Magee and Shannon would be living together on the Shore Road, Belfast while Atkinson, who had been in south-east Asia before returning home, would be living with his father at Galwally Park, Belfast.

District Judge Kelly returned the case to Craigavon Crown Court for trial with the defendants to be arraigned on March 12.

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All three were ordered to surrender their passports before Judge Kelly granted bail.

Before releasing them on a bail of £500 with sureties of £1,000, the judge described the surrender of the passports that as a ‘waste of time’ so in addition she said passport offices in London, Belfast and Dublin would be notified that they were banned from being issued with new ones.