THE largest known social welfare fraud case uncovered with the use of facial recognition software has led to a Romanian national being sentenced to three years in prison.

Adrian Vaduca, 44, with an address of Old School Yard, Riverchapel, Gorey, Co. Wexford, pleaded guilty at Wexford Circuit Criminal Court to theft using basic social welfare payments, rent allowance and supplementary welfare allowance.

3 Adrian Vaduva leaving court after being sentenced for defrauding the State

The defendant obtained more than €280,000 in fraudulent social welfare payments over a 16-year period between 1999 and 2015. He was only found out when a picture taken of him was matched with the picture of another man also claiming social welfare.

Claiming that ‘greed got the better of him for whatever reason’, Judge Barry Hickson handed down a three year prison sentence, with the last nine months suspended, backdated to when he was arrested and taken into custody on June 30 last.

The court was told that he first arrived in Ireland in 1998 and was refused asylum but returned the following year, under the assumed name of Eduard Preda, and granted asylum. He then began collecting social welfare using this false identity.

When Romania joined the EU in 2008, he became eligible to collect social welfare under his own name and began doing so, while also collecting payments as Eduard Preda.

Det. Garda Kevin Heffernan, on Secondment with the Department of Social Protection, told the court that Breda Murphy of the Department’s staff in Wexford town alerted him to the case last June after the software matched the two photos and showed that both Vaduva and Preda were in fact the same man.

Garda Heffernan said it was evident 'Eduard Preda’ and ‘Adrian Vaduva’ were the same person.

3 Mock images generated by the Evo-Fit facial recognition system used by the Gardai Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

Between 1999 and mid-2015 he collected a total of €280,828 using the two identities, Garda Heffernan added. He received €161,000 of this under the name Eduard Preda during that period, and the remainder under his own name.

Det. Gards Heffernan said that in recent years, the Department of Social Protection introduced a new public service card which meant that every person receiving a payment was invited into a departmental office and had their photo taken.

‘Eduard Preda’ was invited in 2015 and had his picture taken, and in June 2016, Adrian Vaduca was similarly invited. The new Cogent Facial Imaging Matching Software (CFIMS) system matched the photos. ‘It soon became evident that Eduard Preda and Adrian Vaduva were the same person, said Det. Garda Heffernan.

Vaduva was arrested in Arklow last summer and admitted the fraud, including renting a flat in Wexford which was supposed to be the address for ‘Eduard Preda’.

He was paying €400 a month in rent but receiving almost €1000 in payments which Det. Garda Heffernan described as an elaborate scheme. He was brought to Wexford Garda Station where he was interviewed a number of times.

Det. Heffernan said search warrants were obtained in relation to the accused’s home at Riverchapel and also for a property he was renting in Wexford town.

The latter apartment was found to be completely empty of any furniture or possessions, although gardai found a blue folder which contained a false ID card and other documents under the name Eduard Preda.

The court was told that Vaduva had not accumulated any of the money but was using it to live on.

He also paid money for his sick mother and he had three children in Romania, one of whom is seriously ill.

He only had €20 on him when arrested and had no money in his bank accounts.

3 More than €280,000 was made in fraudulent social welfare payments over a 16-year period Credit: Corbis

Vaduva cried throughout the court hearing and the court heard he sobbed throughout his interviews with gardai.

Describing him as an emotional man, Judge Barry Hickson said the new CFIMS siftware had been instrumental in this case.

He said ‘greed got the better of him, for whatever reason, since he arrived in Ireland’.

The accused seemed to be a ‘rather emotional man’ and his probation report indicated that some family members had died in recent years.

‘Nonetheless these are serious offences for he deprived the State of almost €300,000 which could have gone to other people in need,’ the judge said.

He sentenced him to three years imprisonment on each of the five representative charges to run concurrently, and suspended the last nine months, backdating the sentence to June 30 last.