An Irishman, once lauded as the “Maradona of hurling,” has been sentenced to five and a half years behind bars for an elaborate scam where he allegedly faked having cancer to swindle £345,000 from friends and family. DJ Carey, a former Kilkenny hurler now aged 54, entered a guilty plea in July on 10 charges related to deceitfully obtaining money through false cancer claims.

Carey reportedly sent images to his victims that appeared to depict him with medical tubes inserted in his nose. However, upon closer examination, it was revealed that the so-called tubes were actually an iPhone cable.

The Dublin Criminal Courts of Justice took into account an additional eight charges during sentencing proceedings on Monday.

Judge Martin Nolan, overseeing the case, remarked on the nature of fraud, noting that con artists typically manipulate human weaknesses, such as greed. However, in this instance, he observed, “Mr. Carey exploited the good nature of people.”

Judge Martin Nolan said that fraudsters tend to appeal to the weakness of humans, which is usually greed.

‘This is not the case here, Mr Carey exploited the good nature of people,’ the judge said.

Describing Carey as a ‘formidable sportsman in both hurling and handball, one of the best known hurlers ever and known across the hurling world’, the judge said the people who gave him money were ‘good-natured people who wanted to help a person in need’.

He said that it was ‘very hard to know what motivated Mr Carey’ but since entering his guilty pleas, he had been subjected to ‘public odium and ridicule’ and that his ‘good name will probably never recover’.

He said that when he is released, he is likely to face a tough life.

DJ Carey has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for conning friends and family out of £345,000

An image, said to have been sent to his victims, appeared to show him with medical ‘tubes’ in his nose – but it seems to be an iPhone cable on further inspection

Carey with Tess Daly in 2005. He is said to have enjoyed celebrity status after he bowed out from the sport

He said among the aspects taken into consideration in mitigation was that he has no previous record of convictions, he has a history of work and and of contributing to society.

‘Do I think he will offend in the future? Probably not,’ he said before adding that no court could be certain.

Carey stood expressionless in the courtroom with his hands clasped in front of him, wearing the same clothes as he was on Friday when he was taken into custody.

Carey was one of the most acclaimed figures in GAA history, having won five All-Ireland titles and nine All-Star awards.

When he retired from inter-county hurling in 2006, he was hailed as an ‘idol’ for young players and a legend of the game.

Billionaire Denis O’Brien is among the people the former sportsman induced to pay him money by fraudulently claiming he needed to fund cancer treatment.

In total, Carey was given €394,127 and $13,000, of which he repaid €44,203.

The court heard how gardai were first alerted to Carey’s crimes by a financial institution, when one of their elderly customers tried to transfer money to him.

Carey told a number of his victims he would pay them back from compensation of more than a million euros he was due to receive from a civil action he said he had taken against the Health Service Executive (HSE), telling one person he had an ‘excessive dose of radiation’ during his treatment at St James’s Hospital in Dublin.

Judge Nolan said that he had not taken a civil action against the HSE and ‘therefore, there was going to be no proceeds’ and most of the money from the deception ‘wasn’t going to be repaid’.

The judge said that he could not imagine ‘a more reprehensible form’ of fraud than to falsely tell people you have cancer.

He said he would put it at a similar ‘level’ to deceiving 17 or 18 elderly people.