Football ticket fraudster avoids jail after being beaten up and fleeing Northern Ireland

The beating meted out to McGookin last November was so bad the gambling addict was hospitalised for a time and he is still suffering physically and mentally as a result, the court heard.

When McGookin, who was on the books of Glasgow giants Rangers for a time, was eventually released from hospital, he fled Northern Ireland, seeking sanctuary and safety across the water in Britain.

Sentencing the swindler, Judge Miller said the beating was “sustained and violent in the extreme,” adding that although he “utterly condemns such vigilantism, the defendant probably now appreciates that there can be consequences over and above those imposed by the criminal justice system.”

At an earlier hearing McGookin, with an address given as c/o Madden & Finucane Solicitors on Castle Street in Belfast, entered guilty pleas to three counts of fraud by false representation, one for each of the unsuspecting victims, committed on dates between January 2 and February 17, 2020.

Judge Miller said the first victim met McGookin in a bar in Liverpool, having travelled over to go to a match in early January 2020, the year the Merseyside club won the Premier League after a 30-year wait.

“He had been made aware of the defendant offering tickets for matches via Facebook and he met him in person,” said the judge, adding that after McGookin “offered him a series of tickets,” £6,500 was transferred to the conman for “tickets that (were) received.”

Before realising he had been fleeced, the victim transferred another £3,000 to McGookin after the fraudster claimed he had a “contact” in Currys who could supply them with soiled electrical goods to sell on for profit.

The second victim fell foul of the same scam and transferred £9,000 to McGookin for tickets, seeing neither his cash returned nor match tickets.

That man, not realising his money had disappeared, suggested to the third victim that McGookin could get him tickets for a Champions League match between Jurgen Klopp’s team and Atletico Madrid.

“As a result he gave him £1,500 for match tickets that were, of course, not forthcoming,” said the judge.

Arrested and interviewed in March 2020, McGookin claimed that he himself had been the victim of a fraud, telling cops he had given the money to a man named as Simon Barton but when investigators looked into his claims, they could find no such person and there was no record of money being transferred by McGookin to anyone of that name.

The crook has 58 previous offences including 20 for fraud and deception as well as others for assault, threat to kill, possessing a weapon and breaching a non-molestation order.

Last October he was given a suspended sentence for fraud, duping a victim into paying him £5,350 for 28 iPhones and 5 iPads that never appeared.

“There’s a well-established pattern of offending behaviour for financial gain and clearly, the likelihood of further offences very much depends on whether he continues to completely avoid gambling,” said the judge, adding that according to the probation report, “he has not gambled in the previous 497 days.”

“He was clearly a gifted footballer and had a contract with Rangers FC that was cut short by a significant ankle injury, something to which he attributed the root cause of his gambling addiction,” Judge Miller told the court.

“Gambling is an addiction, a pernicious addiction and one that is capable of destroying lives,” the judge told McGookin, “there can be no dispute that the custodial threshold has been passed, given the history and background.”

Imposing a two-year jail sentence but suspending it for three years, the judge said he wanted to “underline the core fact that McGookin suffers from an illness, a addiction,” one for which he has “taken steps to deal with.”

He warned the fraudster, however, that if he committed any further offences he would go to prison and the two years “will be served consecutively.”

The judge also ordered that £1,500 the conman had managed to gather together should be split amongst the victims.