A Co Cork farmer yesterday admitted his part in a conspiracy to defraud the Department of Agriculture of £75,000 in compensation by deliberately placing a BSE-infected cow in his herd so all the herd would be destroyed and he would be recompensed.
James Sutton (58) pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to defraud the Minister for Agriculture between August 1st and October 31st, 1996, by buying a BSE-infected animal and tagging it with an identification tag from an animal born in his herd.
He admitted that he then placed the animal in his herd on his 80-acre farm near Clonakilty with the intention of having all the cattle on his lands destroyed and obtaining depopulation compensation from the Minister for Agriculture.
Sutton, of Kilgarriffe House, Kilgarriffe, Clonakilty, had originally denied the charge at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, but yesterday, after 10 days of legal argument, he changed his plea to guilty when rearraigned before Judge A.G. Murphy.
Judge Murphy had heard evidence from 10 witnesses for the prosecution and defence in the absence of the jury during the trial within a trial.
He adjourned sentence on Sutton until May 10th and remanded him on continuing bail until that date.
The case involved a year-long inquiry by the Special Investigations Unit of the Department of Agriculture and the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, backed by gardai in west Cork.
The Department's officials became suspicious about a cow on Sutton's farm in September 1996 when they were called in by Sutton's vet.
The vet suspected that a sick animal reported by the farmer had BSE, the court heard on the first day of the case.
Mr John Edwards SC, prosecuting, said Department officials noted the cow had no horns.
However, its identification papers stated that it had a full set of horns when examined a year before, and there was no evidence of it having being dehorned in the interim.
They became even more suspicious on further examination of the diseased animal when they found a fresh piece of animal flesh in a barrel of the identification tag on the ear of the cow, said Mr Edwards.
Yesterday, following Sutton's plea of guilty to the main charge of conspiracy, his counsel, Mr Kevin Cross SC, asked for an adjournment to allow his client to put his farm and other affairs in order.
Mr Don McCarthy, prosecuting, said the State was reserving its right regarding 17 related charges against Sutton.