A district court judge has urged the state to make progress on its case against accused serial fraudster Samantha Cookes.
36-year-old Ms Cookes, of no fixed abode, currently faces two charges before the court.
She has previously been known by several different names during her time in Kerry, including Jade O’Sullivan and Carrie Jade Williams.
Samantha Cookes currently faces two counts of fraud with a total value of €464, but gardaí have previously told the court they believe she has, in fact, collected 238 fraudulent welfare payments over a four-year period to the value of over €59,000.
She has been in custody since mid-July on these matters alone.
Ms Cookes has previously gone by a number of different aliases during her time in Kerry.
She recently had been living in Connolly Park in Tralee, going by the name of Jade O'Sullivan, while she's previously been known as Carrie Jade Williams in Kenmare and Cahersiveen, where she posed as a disability activist.
At Tralee District Court this morning, she gave her name as Samantha Jade Cookes.
Sergeant Chris Manton told the court directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions are not available.
The court previously heard the garda file has been with the DPP since 8th August, and gardaí had made contact with the DPP office to get matters progressed.
Ms Cookes’ solicitor Brendan Ahern said these were clearly holding charges, and on the face of it were minor in nature.
Judge Waters said two months in custody is not long enough for him to mark the case peremptory, meaning it would be fixed to a date to be finalised with no further adjournments.
Judge Waters said we would want some movement on this fairly shortly, as she has been remanded in custody since 13 July.
Ms Cookes was again remanded in continuing custody to 25th September, when she’ll appear in Tralee District Court via video link from Limerick women’s prison.
