Case No. 2033Theft and fraud (multiple) · Co. Kerry
Serial fraudster Samantha Cookes at centre of new Garda theft and fraud investigation in Kerry
Samantha Cookes, 36, originally from Gloucester, is the subject of a new Garda investigation into theft and fraud offences in Kerry, including selling undelivered sensory toys online, missing furniture, unauthorised Airbnb subletting, and securing €36,250 in Arts Council grants while posing as a terminally ill writer. She is currently serving a three-year prison sentence for a €60,334 social welfare fraud.
- Reported22 Mar
- Arrestednot reported
- Chargednot reported
- In courtnot reported
- Verdictnot reported
- Sentenced10 Mar
reportedhappened, not reportedlatest stagenot yet
Key facts
consolidated from all reports26 statements extracted from the articles
- whatCookes secured €36,250 in Arts Council grants between 2021 and 2022. (irishtimes.com)
- whatShe admitted stealing more than €60,000 from the State by pretending to have an illness to claim social welfare. (irishtimes.com)
- whatCookes was awarded €21,250 under the Literature Project Award in 2022 and €15,000 under the Language Bursary Award in 2021. (irishtimes.com)
- whatA new Garda investigation into theft and fraud offences is being carried out by gardaí in Kerry into Samantha Cookes. (irishtimes.com)
- whatCookes worked as an au pair for families across the country under multiple aliases for a decade. (irishtimes.com)
- whatCookes was selling sensory toys for children with special needs via a website, claiming to make them with a 3D printer, but no toys were ever delivered. (irishtimes.com)
- whatFurniture went missing from a house she was renting in Kenmare, where she sublet the property via Airbnb without permission. (irishtimes.com)
- whatCookes secured Arts Council grants in 2021 and 2022 totalling €36,250. (irishtimes.com)
- whatThe new Kerry investigation is nearing a conclusion and may result in new criminal charges. (irishtimes.com)
- whatCookes was arrested outside a post office in Tralee in July 2024 for social welfare fraud of €60,334.35. (irishtimes.com)
- whatIn May 2019 Cookes was convicted in the courts in Cork on four fraud and theft charges and received a 14-week suspended sentence. (irishtimes.com)
- whatThree of the 2019 Cork charges related to a bogus trip to Lapland she claimed to be organising while living in south Co Dublin in 2016, for which she collected deposits before disappearing. (irishtimes.com)
- whatThe fourth 2019 charge related to an assessment she carried out on a child in Cork in 2017 for which she was paid €840 while pretending to be a child psychologist. (irishtimes.com)
- whatIn 2011 Cookes was convicted of fraud in Britain after taking £1,200 from a couple who wanted a surrogacy arrangement with her, then discontinued contact. (irishtimes.com)
- whereCookes lived in Cahersiveen and Kenmare, Co Kerry, for three years to the end of 2022. (irishtimes.com)
- courtShe was convicted of four fraud counts and one count of deception at a court in Fermoy, Co Cork, in May 2021. (irishtimes.com)
- sentenceShe was sentenced to four years in prison with the final year suspended. (irishtimes.com)
- sentenceShe was given a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, after admitting fraud by false representation in 2011. (irishtimes.com)
- sentenceCookes was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for the social welfare fraud earlier in March 2025. (irishtimes.com)
- sentenceThe 2011 British fraud conviction carried a nine-month sentence that was fully suspended. (irishtimes.com)
- otherThe UK national has five previous convictions of a similar nature in this jurisdiction. (irishtimes.com)
- otherShe won an essay writing competition run by the Financial Times and a division of Penguin Random House in 2020 under the name Carrie Jade Williams. (irishtimes.com)
- otherShe received her Arts Council funding under the name Jade Cooke. (irishtimes.com)
- otherIn 2020, Cookes was announced as a writer in residence at the Irish Writers Centre at Cill Rialaig in south Kerry. (irishtimes.com)
- otherShe was previously convicted in the UK of a pregnancy surrogacy scam. (irishtimes.com)
- otherCookes is not terminally ill and has been in Ireland just over a decade. (irishtimes.com)
The reporting
newest first- 22 Mar2025Serial fraudster Samantha Cookes at centre of new Garda investigation
First report on the new Kerry Garda investigation into Cookes's theft and fraud activities, detailing the sensory toy website, missing furniture, unauthorised Airbnb subletting, and Arts Council grants secured under a fake terminally ill writer identity.
suspect, Samantha Cookes, 36, female, named, non-irish (judged from name)Samantha Cookes - 10 Mar2025Serial fraudster Samantha Cookes’s funding applications considered by Arts Council on ‘artistic merit’
Reports Cookes's sentencing at Tralee District Court and the Arts Council's statement defending its grant process; adds details about specific grant amounts, her aliases, a UK surrogacy scam conviction, and her 2020 writer-in-residence role at the Irish Writers Centre.
convicted, Samantha Cookes, 36, female, named, non-irish (judged from name)Samantha Cookes