A convicted Dublin fraudster on the run from a Northern Ireland prison has been charged over a scam involving All Ireland final tickets.

Tallaght man Wesley Brennan (32) was picked up by gardai on Jones's Road, close to Croke Park on Wednesday night.

He was taken to Mountjoy Garda Station for questioning before being transferred to the Bridewell.

He appeared in court on Thursday morning charged with making gain in relation to 12 All-Ireland final tickets.

The charges fall under Section 6 of the Criminal Justice Act (theft and fraud offences) 2001. Brennan was remanded in custody.

He had been on the run from a prison in Northern Ireland since January last year where he was given home leave while on remand for allegedly creating false ads online offering tickets for the 2017 All-Ireland Final.

Brennan's offences include Breach of Community Based Order x2, Fraud by False Representation x6, Theft x11, and driving whilst disqualified.

He was also the suspect in conning a Dublin woman out of €420 days before the drawn All-Ireland final between Dublin and Kerry.

The woman had told RTE's Liveline how the man Gardai believe is Brennan set about conning her.

She told how she answered an ad on Adverts.ie and then exchanged telephone numbers with the person taking out the ad.

She said the man had initially offered her two Cusack stand tickets at face value for the Dublin v Kerry final on September 1.

"After we exchanged phone numbers he explained he would only give them to someone who he trusted and would not sell them on for a profit," said the Kildare woman.

"He claimed he was a solicitor, but got a job working in the GAA and had spare tickets for the final."

"He wanted to ensure that his tickets didn't fall into the hands of touts, and would only sell to genuine fans."

Asked why she wanted the tickets, Siobhan explained that it would mean the world to her 14-year-old daughter, whose father had been an avid Dubs fan before he died.

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They agreed to exchange social media accounts as an extra precaution, and the following morning the two arranged to meet at Croke Park so the tickets could be handed over.

The conman added that he now had three more tickets and asked if she knew of any "genuine fans" who would be interested in one premium and two Hill seats.

"It came to a total of €420 for the five tickets at face value," she said.

"I told the man that my daughter was so excited about the tickets and that she couldn't thank him enough.

"I had no reason whatsoever to doubt his authenticity."

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They met on the Tuesday before the final and the man took the woman's money and told her to wait in a cafe with the children she had with her, and he would be back with the tickets after he collected them in the GAA shop on Dorset Street.

But he never returned.

Brennan was previously jailed in 2015 in Dublin after being convicted of stealing a woman's car on a first date after the pair met on a dating site.

He criticised the woman's driving before asking could he drive, but when he got in the driver's seat he drove off and later sold the car to a scrap yard in Ashbourne, Co Meath. Brennan was jailed for 18 months.

Another woman claimed her friend had been scammed out of €1,400 for sports tickets after meeting Brennan on the same website.

Irish Independent