Nobody home Catriona Carey's plush Kilkenny home revealed as more alleged victims come forward

This is the plush house Catriona Carey has made her home in a leafy estate in Kilkenny city - and one which she herself has apparently taken out a huge mortgage on.

After being at the centre of an RTÉ Primetime ­Investigates exposé, the ­businesswoman has not been seen here for several days.

Nor has there been any sign of the luxury white 2022 reg BMW she drives and which her company Careysfort Asset Estates splashed out over €55,000 for.

A young blonde woman answered the door to Carey's house in Kilkenny on Friday evening and politely took our reporter's businesscard when we asked her to pass it on to Carey, but then firmly shut the door when asked of her whereabouts.

 

David Hall of the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation which hired a private detective to look into Carey, said they have learned she has a huge mortgage on her property.

"From what we understand the house is worth €400,00 but there's a mortgage for €700,000 on it, so there's negative equity on the property," he tells the Sunday World.

The IMHO, a not-for-profit body, helps distressed mortgage holders by negotiating with their lenders.

Mr Hall claims more alleged victims have come forward.

"We have no idea where she is but I have been contacted by three people during the past few days, each of whom gave her €40,000 to help them fix their distressed mortgages," he says.

He said there were a lot of people involved and that there are a lot of people who paid her cash and there is no formal record of it.

"I have seen emails from the Garda to two of these people asking them to meet them, the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau in Harcourt Street in Dublin."

RTÉ Investigates reporter Paul Murphy reported that more than €200,000 deposited by desperate homeowners to a business account ­controlled by Carey was ­allegedly spent on personal items and services.

The programme highlighted 18 people who paid close to €500,000, with some paying €60,000 each after they handed over large sums to her company, after it said it would purchase their debt from lenders at a cheaper rate and thus sell them their house back with much lower mortgage repayments.

All that was required was a lump sum up front of between 10 and 30 per cent of the new loan amount. Some handed