'GPO girl' mystery

Podcast examines case of 'teenager' who was a serial fraudster across the world

- APPEAL Garda Dave Taylor in 2013 BY ALEX MEEHAN

IT’S the top podcast that’s gripped the nation with its intriguing story of deceit, international intrigue and a woman with more than 100 fake identities who passed herself off as a teenager. 

And it starts in Ireland in 2013, with the story of a mystery girl found wandering and confused in the GPO on Dublin’s O’Connell Street.

Believed to be about 14 years old, the “GPO girl” refused to speak and was brought to Temple Street Children’s Hospital to be assessed while gardai struggled to establish her identity.

She refused to be photographed so gardai had to sneak a picture and then get permission from the High Court to publish it without her consent. Her identity remained a mystery for almost a month – until her picture was recognised and the truth came out.

Not only was she not a teenager, not lost and not a victim of sex trafficking as had been supposed, she was in fact a 25-year-old Australian woman called Samantha Azzopardi. And this wasn’t her first rodeo.

In fact she was a serial fantasist with a penchant for causing trouble for authorities around the world by assuming fake identities and soaking up public resources.

It’s thought she cost the Irish State around 2,000 hours of Garda time and €350,000 in services before she was deported back to Australia.