A DAD who stole more than a million Euros from the Post Office he managed to feed a gambling addiction is to share his life story with members of a networking group in Derby.
Tony O’Reilly found himself tens of thousands of Euros in debt and, in a desperate bid to cover up his addiction, he stole 1.75 million Euros from An Post, Ireland’s national post service, where he was branch manager.
Photo shows: Tony O’Reilly’s book
The theft cost him his job, marriage and left him contemplating suicide. He was sentenced to four years in prison, with a year suspended.
Ten years later – and with a best-selling book documenting his struggles having been published – Tony is keen to warn others of the dangers of online gambling.
He will be the special guest at the monthly online networking group hosted by Colleague Box CEO Adam Bamford. In return, the Derby gift company will make a donation to Tony’s designated charity, Extern Problem Gambling.
Photo shows: Tony O’Reilly
Adam, who set up Colleague Box with wife Natalie during the first national lockdown, turning over £1m in just five months, said: “Having read Tony’s story and how he turned his life around, I was keen to have him as a guest at our monthly networking event, which has grown in popularity since its launch last summer.
“Gambling is a big problem in 2022; lockdown has seen an increase in the number of people participating in online gambling – particularly women – and we need to talk about the issue more openly.
“The reason we chose to have Tony talk to our members is because we believe that his story turning his life around and triumph through adversity is something the felt the current members of the club would resonate with.
“He is proof that having an addiction doesn’t have to define you. You can turn your life around, with help and support.”
Tony realised that his addiction was spiralling out of control shortly after the birth of his daughter.
He said: “It was the happiest day of my life, but that day was also tinged with sadness as I knew just how much trouble I was in.
“When I returned to my job after paternity leave, I continued to gamble and gamble. At Christmas, an audit team arrived at the post office and I was convinced that I was going to get caught.
“I had stolen 294,000 Euros at this point. That’s when I believe that I had lost my mind.”
Six months later and with another audit due Tony decided to flee his hometown for Belfast city, discarding the sim card in his mobile phone so that he couldn’t be tracked, and almost crashing his car.
Tony booked himself into a hotel which accepted cash bookings and, having seen news of the theft breaking on television, he emailed his family to apologise. They contacted police who tracked him down and sent officers to the hotel.
“I contemplated suicide,” he said, “the only thing that stopped me was my daughter. It was something of a relief when the officers finally arrived at the hotel and told me that they were concerned for my safety.
“It had a huge impact on my family and I’ve dealt with a lot of adversity over the years. But I want to be able to say to my daughter that, yes I did mess up but this is what I’ve done with my life. I want to share my story with others, to help them and that’s why I’m honoured to be given the chance to share this with members of the Colleague Box networking group.”
Photo shows: Adam and Natalie, owners of Colleague Box
The business network group meets on the final Thursday of each month.
The venture is a subscription-led model with tendees paying £16 a month for the service, which includes a Colleague Box featuring drinks and snacks that have been carefully chosen by Adam and his team and sent out to participants before the start of the meeting, so that they can enjoy them during the event.
Those signing up need to be over the age of 18.
Previous guests have included former Derby County captain Jacob Laursen and Karl Shaw, owner of Silver Birch Creative and fashion brand Mr Shaw. Leicester Tigers rugby union player Greg Bateman will be the special guest during March.
To subscribe to the Business Club, visit colleaguebox.co.uk and, if you would like to be a guest, email adam.bamford@colleaguebox.co.uk
ENDS
For further information, contact Kerry Ganly at Penguin PR on 07734 723951 or email kerry@penguinpr.co.uk
