Brendan Mullin, a former international rugby player, has been sentenced to three years in prison for stealing over €570,000 (£475,602) from Bank of Ireland Private Bank.

Mullin, 61, from Stillorgan Road in Donnybrook, Dublin 4, had denied taking the money between 2011 and 2013 while serving as the bank’s CEO. He also denied charges of false accounting.

In November, a jury found him guilty of 12 out of 14 charges, and it was later revealed that he accepts the jury’s verdict.

During the trial, it was disclosed that Mullin took €500,000 (£417,193) from the bank due to a breakdown in communication within the banking group. The money was transferred to Spice Holdings, a company that Mullin had introduced to the bank and which is registered in the British Virgin Islands.

Further allegations were made that Mullin arranged for the bank to pay McCann Fitzgerald solicitors, Beechwood accountants, and Grant Thornton for work done for him personally or for his firm, Quantum Investment Strategies.

The judge remarked that Mullin held a “position of trust and power” when he committed the theft. Although no clear motive was provided, the judge suggested that Mullin might have been “desperate for funds” and resorted to criminal actions to obtain money.

Mitigating factors, including the fact that the bank was fully repaid and did not incur a loss, as well as the significant delay in bringing the case to trial, were taken into account. Despite this, the judge stated that a prison sentence was inevitable, sentencing Mullin to three years in jail.