A former stockbroker whose fraudulent use of clients' money led to the collapse of one of Cork's oldest stockbroking firms had his two-year prison sentence increased to five years yesterday.
"The word must go out to the public that white collar crime of this nature will attract serious sentences," Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns said when granting the DPP's appeal against leniency of sentence.
Stephen Pearson (45), a former member of the Benedictine Order and a father of three from North Esk, Glanmire, was a junior partner in W&R Morrogh, a 114-year-old firm, when he used €5.5 million of clients' funds to play the stock market.
The company, one of Cork's oldest stockbroking firms, later collapsed with losses of €7 million after he used clients' money to trade in shares.
Pearson pleaded guilty to 31 charges of fraudulently converting clients' funds, 11 charges of forgery and five counts of obtaining funds under false pretences between November 1995 and April 2001.
Last October, Judge Desmond Hogan sentenced him to three years' imprisonment at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, but suspended the final year, saying he had regard to the effect prison would have on him, his wife and his family.
The DPP appealed against the leniency of the sentence and the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday increased the sentence to five years' imprisonment.
Mr Justice Kearns, presiding at the three-judge court, said the court was satisfied that the original sentence had been unduly lenient.He said the trial judge had erred in suspending a portion of the sentence.
He said Pearson had very considerable responsibilities and had taken part in a series of frauds over five years. Pearson's victims had been widows and elderly people, among others, and in many cases they had entrusted their life savings to him. As a result of his actions, the long-standing Cork firm had collapsed and his partner in the firm, Alec Morrogh, had been reduced to penury trying to recompense the victims of the fraud, he said
Mr Justice Kearns said that Pearson was not a hardened criminal, but had engaged in gambling with futures and options out of a weakness of character.
Alec Morrogh, the grandson of the company founder, was a 60 per cent partner of the firm. Pearson, his cousin, owned 40 per cent. Pearson was also financial controller of the firm.
