A 25-YEAR-OLD man convicted of filing false mileage claims while he served as a PSNI officer in Fermanagh over two years ago has received 200 hours of community service.

Steven Anthony Mulvenna, who has since left the PSNI, has also been ordered to pay compensation totalling £411.74, the amount he fraudulently claimed.

Mulvenna, with an address in the Lurgan area, appeared before Fermanagh Magistrates Court on Monday for sentencing, after being found guilty of 10 counts of fraud by false representation last month.

He had been cleared of a further three counts of fraud.

The offences, which were all denied by the defendant, occurred between May 13, 2013 and October 6, 2013, when he was based at Enniskillen police station.

Mulvenna had been living at his family home in Lurgan, but had also rented accommodation in the Enniskillen area.

During his contested hearing, which took place over three days last November, the prosecution had alleged that the defendant claimed for travel expenses he was not entitled to.

Counsel for the Public Prosecution Service, Robin Steer, told this week’s sentencing hearing that this was a “breach of trust” case in which the total value of the fraud had been £411.74.

Mr Steer said this related to travel expenses claimed by the defendant for journeys to and from the family home in Lurgan and his place of work in Enniskillen on the 10 dates in question.

Defence counsel, Mark Farrell, said that his client “respected entirely” the verdict of the court, but had instructed his solicitor that he wished to appeal his conviction.

In mitigation, Mr Farrell said that the defendant had no criminal record and had clearly now lost his reputation in society and the community.

The barrister said that Mulvenna had served for five years in the PSNI “without blemish”, before resigning because of the upcoming case and out of a desire to retrain.

Arguing that this was not a case that merited an immediate custodial sentence, the barrister said that the figure given by the prosecution amounted to roughly £40 a claim, which he described as “not a high level” in terms of value.

Referring to the pre-sentence report, Mr Farrell conceded it was “troublesome” in some respects and that there had been tension between his client and the probation officer.

The barrister said that Mulvenna had always accepted that he made the claims, but the dispute was whether he acted dishonestly or not.

Mr Farrell alleged that the probation officer appeared to have formed the view that the defendant was part of a “wider conspiracy” within the PSNI relating to expenses fraud.

However, the barrister told the court that there was “not a shred of evidence” to support the contention that this practice was widespread.

Claiming that the probation officer had got the “wrong end of the stick” on a number of issues, Mr Farrell said that his client was not part of a wider conspiracy to commit “industrialised fraud” within the PSNI.

District judge, Nigel Broderick, agreed that there was “no evidence” that it was a conspiracy issue.
He observed that the prosecution were right to highlight the breach of trust element in the case, describing it as a “serious matter”.

The judge said the offences were aggravated as they had occurred when the defendant had been a serving police officer whose duty was to uphold the law.

Taking into account his clear record, Mr Broderick also said he was not surprised that Mulvenna had been assessed as posing a low likelihood of re-offending.

Imposing the community service and compensation, the judge then granted the defendant his own bail of £500 to appeal against the conviction.