Search

19 Sept 2025

Suspended sentence for Derry woman who stole from Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust

Alicia Teresa Duddy (53) of Dereen Drive in Strathfoyle admitted one charge of the theft of £2,600 from the charity on a date between March 4, 2022 and November 7, 2023

Rowdy scenes at Derry Magistrate's Court as anti lock down protesters disrupted proceedings

Derry Magistrates' Court

Reporter:

Court Reporter

19 Sept 2025 1:45 PM

Email:

news@derrynow.com

A woman who admitted 'a mean, low, despicable offence' of stealing from the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust has been given a suspended sentence at Derry Magistrates' Court. 
Alicia Teresa Duddy (53) of Dereen Drive in Strathfoyle admitted one charge of the theft of £2,600 from the charity on a date between March 4, 2022 and November 7, 2023.
The court heard that a fundraiser was organised for the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust and held in a local hotel.
Vouchers from local businesses were raffled and in total £2,600 was raised.
Once the investigation began the hotel confirmed the event had taken place and the charity said they had not received any money.
When Duddy was interviewed she said she had been trying to let the money build up and added she couldn't believe that they had raised so much.
The court heard that the defendant had gambling addiction issues.
Defence counsel Michael Donaghy said it was 'a despicable offence to steal money from a charity' but he added the one thing in Duddy's favour was that she had paid the money to her solicitor. 
The barrister said that Duddy's life 'had broken down' as a result of her addiction. 
District Judge Ted Magill said that it was a mean offence to steal from a charity and added that one of the issues was that such thefts had 'a chilling affect' on people willingness to give to charities as they didn't want their money going to someone's gambling addiction. 
He said if Duddy had not managed to pay the money back she would have gone straight to prison. 
He imposed a six month prison sentence suspended for three years and a compensation order in favour of the Kevin Bell Repatriation Charity for £2,600.

To continue reading this article,
please subscribe and support local journalism!

Subscribing will allow you access to all of our premium content and archived articles.

Subscribe

To continue reading this article for FREE,
please kindly register and/or log in.

Registration is absolutely 100% FREE and will help us personalise your experience on our sites. You can also sign up to our carefully curated newsletter(s) to keep up to date with your latest local news!

Register / Login

Most Popular

Sponsored Content

Multimedia

We've got Donegal Covered...

Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie

Buy a paper

Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.

Buy Now
Get the news

Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.

Register Now
Iconic Media is Ireland's largest independently owned regional newspaper and media group, with an unrivalled audience in print, online and mobile. We have 19 regional newspapers and 21 digital sites.

Iconic Digital Titles

  • Carlow Live
  • Clare Live
  • Derry Now
  • Donegal Live
  • Éire Bheo
  • Inish Live
  • Ireland Live
  • Kildare Live
  • Kildare Now
  • Kilkenny Live
  • Laois Live
  • Leitrim Live
  • Letterkenny Live
  • Limerick Live
  • Longford Live
  • Louth Live
  • Mayo Live
  • Nenagh Live
  • Offaly Live
  • Tipperary Live
  • Waterford Live

    • Iconic Print Titles

  • Clonmel Nationalist
  • County Derry Post
  • Derry News
  • Donegal Democrat
  • Donegal Post
  • Dundalk Democrat
  • Homes in Donegal
  • Inish Times
  • Kilkenny People
  • Leinster Express
  • Leinster Leader
  • Leitrim Observer
  • Letterkenny Live
  • Limerick Leader
  • Longford Leader
  • Mayo News
  • Midland Tribune
  • Tipperary Star
  • Tullamore Tribune

    • This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.

    © 2025 Iconic Media