Woman faked own death to beat trial

A WOMAN who faked her own death in a “deliberate scheme" to avoid standing trial was jailed yesterday for three years.

- BY NATASHA REID and EIMEAR DODD

Amy McAuley, 35, had been due to stand trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in January 2023 on theft and attempted deception charges.

She had used altered documents to take out a €10,000 loan from KBC Bank in 2018 and later unsuccessfully tried to obtain a second €5,000 loan.

However, the trial did not go ahead as McAuley, while pretending to be a sister, had earlier contacted gardai and told them she had passed away.

McAuley with addresses in Connagh, Fethard-on-Sea, Co Wexford, and Navan Road, Dublin 7 also submitted a false death notification form to Wexford County Council in January 2023 with death certificates later issued using English and Irish spellings of her name.