Copyright thejournal
We need your help now Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open. You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough. If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it. One-off amount I already contribute Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you. An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more. Investigates Investigates Money Diaries The Journal TV Climate Crisis Cost of Living Road Safety Newsletters Temperature Check Inside the Newsroom The Journal Investigates Daft.ie Property Allianz Home The 42 Sport TG4 Entertainment The Explainer A deep dive into one big news story Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture have your say Or create a free account to join the discussion Advertisement More Stories Pictured is DJ Carey arriving at the Criminal Courts of Justice last Friday. The Morning Lead 'What to do with him?' Judge who sentenced DJ Carey unclear on what motivated years of lies “We have huge respect for DJ Carey on the sports field but of course that’s tarnished forevermore,” a Kilkenny farmer who drove Carey to court last Friday said outside court yesterday. 12.11am, 4 Nov 2025 Share options ‘SO WHAT TO do with him?’ Justice Martin Nolan thought aloud in the Dublin Circuit Court yesterday after he detailed the fake cancer treatment ruse that saw DJ Carey induced nearly €400,000 from 22 people. On Friday Nolan had already made it clear that a custodial sentence would be handed down to the 54-year-old Kilkenny man, but said he would take the weekend to mull over the mitigating factors that had been presented by defence counsel Coleman Cody SC. Yesterday Nolan said that Carey’s behaviour was “reprehensible”, “grossly wrong” and that he “could not imagine a more reprehensible fraud than to tell people you have cancer and extort money on that basis”. He said that this was a “very low” example of fraud, and that it would only be made worse if the complainants involved were all very elderly. Nolan added that in most cases of fraud the scammers involved are exploiting people’s greed, but in the case of Carey, he was exploiting the “good nature” and compassion of people he knew, or people he knew through mutual friends. Time and time again he exploited people who held him in particular high regard for his sporting career. It was Judge Nolan’s conundrum. The defendant in front of him had a public fall from grace, and was now a figure of ridicule, no longer revered. Surely that, in and of itself, was a mitigating factor? But the pedestal Carey was on for all those years is what allowed him to carry out the crimes in the first place. ‘So what to do with him?’ Carey repaid €44,200 of the money he induced from people to whom he told a combination of lies. Nolan estimated that he gained around €349,000 from the scheme, which he continued from 2014 to 2022. Most people were told he needed to go to America for cancer treatment, specifically to a hospital in Seattle, and that in order to make the journey he needed urgent funds. In several cases he added the bizarre detail that as he’d won a handball competition in the States he was officially considered an “elite athlete” there and would get his treatment covered for free by the State, but that he still needed funds for accommodation and flights. In some cases he said he needed to repay AIB for a loan on an urgent basis, and in others that he needed to pay expenses to the bank and to those representing him for a case he was taking against St James’s Hospital in Dublin (either for a misdiagnosis of cancer, or for giving him the wrong dose of radiation during treatment – both fictitious tales). Carey’s targets were initially people of means. He conned over €125,000 and $13,000 from famed businessman Denis O’Brien, who he told he needed €60,000 to repay AIB for a debt. He provided the billionaire with faked letters from a centre in Seattle where Carey claimed he was being treated by. The former All-Star and hurler of the year never repaid O’Brien. Former schoolmate Tom Brennan was another unpaid victim. A consultant from Laois and a former schoolmate of Carey’s, he was defrauded out of €120,000 after Carey got in touch with him out of the blue and spun him a story about cancer treatment gone wrong. One couple – Margaret and Ger Kirwan – were repaid following Carey’s arrest in 2022. The amount of €4,000 was smaller but the deception was much more cruel. The man they knew as the best Kilkenny sports person of all time had convinced them to give him the money after he said that he had the same kind of cancer as Margaret. Similarly, Carey’s position on the field was used against financial controller Thomas Butler, whom Carey met through work and ended up taking €16,000 from. Butler was the only victim to speak in court about the impact that the fraud has had on his life. “I have five children and never had spare money to give them growing up,” he said, as he went on to explain that he gave Carey money from his pension fund. “As a true Kilkenny supporter all my life I am not comfortable writing this victim impact statement and any negative reflection it may have on the county due to DJ’s actions but it has to be done to ensure he no longer takes advantage of other innocent individuals,” he said. One of the mitigating factors that Judge Nolan said he took into account when he decided to reduce Carey’s ultimate sentence from somewhere in the region of 8-10 years to 5-and-a-half years was the fact that Carey has been in financial difficulty for years, has no permanent address, and that as a man already in his mid-fifties, he will likely have a “hard life” when he one day leaves prison. The picture painted by Carey’s defence counsel was one of a man who had been publicly shamed and ridiculed for his actions, and who had been at times sleeping in his car, and at other times depending on friends. Advertisement ‘A broken man’ John Crowley, the man who accompanied disgraced former hurler Denis ‘DJ’ Carey in court on Friday for the first day of his sentencing said Carey is a “broken man”. Kilkenny farmer John Crowley. Crowley (62) is a potato farmer from Mooncoin who is heavily involved in charity work through the Elkana Childcare Centre in the town of Malmesbury outside of Cape Town in South Africa. He said that he has known Carey since 2003 when the hurler went on a trip with the South Kilkenny group that supports the home for children. “He has been involved in giving money for it for years,” he said. Crowley said he made the decision to accompany Carey – and that he drove him to court on Friday – because he is a “good Christian man” who believes in “helping people in their hour of need”. “He reached out to me because I was writing back to people online who were being mean about him and telling them to stop it – there’s no one knows what another person is going through,” Crowley said. He added that Carey has known his family for years and that recently his wife and daughter said they were worried about Carey’s mental wellbeing, after they learned that he had been “sleeping in a car for six weeks at the back of a station”. The family decided to invite Carey to stay at their home on a regular basis over the last six months. “I saw he was dead in his eyes the last few days, his eyes were just fucking empty, he is like death warmed up,” Crowley told The Journal outside of court last week. He added that while he is aware that Carey has admitted to defrauding people and pleaded guilty to 10 counts of dishonestly inducing money, he has not thought twice about standing by him in this difficult time. “He has had real health issues, he has had other issues, and you have to think of his family,” he said. Today, after the sentencing, Crowley told The Journal that he has “respect” for the judicial system and Judge Nolan, but he believes that many people in Kilkenny have “sympathy” for Carey. “We have huge respect for him as a hurler, we’re probably addicted to hurling, we love our hurling, but look it… we have huge respect for DJ Carey on the sports field but of course that’s tarnished forever more. “But he’ll still be my friend,” he said. When asked by a reporter, “You say he’s your friend, how did the man you knew do something like that?” Crowley said: “You’ll have to ask DJ Carey.” “It’s an experience to witness it in one way, what I saw on Friday was a human being like a naked shell, like an egg shell, no emotion… he needs rehabilitation,” he added. Crowley further said he believed that Carey could have allowed his defence to share more detail on his mindset during the time he had committed the offences than he did. In his sentencing yesterday, Judge Nolan noted that even after hearing the prosecution lay out the timeline of Carey’s crimes for over an hour, and hearing substantial contributions from his defence, he still did not know what motivated Carey to do what he did. ‘So what to do with him?’ Carey was unflinching as he heard his sentence, and without emotion as he left court in the same suit jacket he’d appeared in the week before. From his demeanour in court, no one in the packed courtroom would have been able to tell what the former sporting legend – who is no stranger to an audience – felt about his serial deceit, the impact it had on his victims, or the tragic chapter he has now arrived to in his own life. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Support The Journal Eimer McAuley Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “'What to do with him?' Judge who sentenced DJ Carey unclear on what motivated years of lies”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “'What to do with him?' Judge who sentenced DJ Carey unclear on what motivated years of lies”. Your Feedback Your Email (optional) Report a Comment Please select the reason for reporting this comment. Please give full details of the problem with the comment... The Morning Lead THE SENTENCING News in 60 seconds tourist spot Worker rescued from partly collapsed medieval tower in Rome Phibsborough Council approves plans for €63m Dalymount Park redevelopment - and construction could begin next year direct provision Asylum-seekers with jobs will be required to pay towards their accommodation under new plans Here's What Happened Today: Monday Hillsborough Law UK State failed Hillsborough victims and families, PM Keir Starmer says as he brings in Bill rainy south east Six counties to come under 12-hour Status Yellow rain warning from midnight Irish speaking British Ambassador Irish is the most difficult and most rewarding language I've learned - British Ambassador Former hurler DJ Carey sentenced to over five years after faking cancer to con money out of people Free Travel Eighteen-year-olds have ten days to get a free interrail pass Sister Stanislaus Kennedy remembered as a tireless advocate with 'a spine of tempered steel' tracker mortgage scandal RTÉ wheels out actor behind 'I don't know what a tracker mortgage is' to promote new series more from us Investigates Money Diaries The Journal TV Journal Media Advertise With Us About FactCheck Our Network FactCheck Knowledge Bank Terms & Legal Notices Terms of Use Cookies & Privacy Advertising Competition more from us TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Journal Media Advertise With Us Our Network The Journal FactCheck Knowledge Bank Terms & Legal Notices Terms of Use Cookies & Privacy Advertising Competition © 2025 Journal Media Ltd Terms of Use Cookies & Privacy Advertising Competition Switch to Desktop Switch to Mobile The Journal supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and the Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at https://www.presscouncil.ie, PH: (01) 6489130, Lo-Call 1800 208 080 or email: mailto:info@presscouncil.ie Report an error, omission or problem: Your Email (optional) Create Email Alert Create an email alert based on the current article Email Address One email every morning As soon as new articles come online
