A Tipperary father and son who introduced a BSE-infected animal into a herd to obtain State compensation have been given three-year sentences by Judge Miriam Reynolds.
Thomas Hickey Snr (72) and Jeremiah Hickey (38) of Grange, Nenagh, who were convicted last month at the local Circuit Criminal Court are to present themselves on January 2nd to start their sentences.
They were convicted last month following a seven-week trial - believed to be the longest held in Nenagh Courthouse - of conspiring to defraud the Minister for Agriculture by placing an animal infected with BSE into a herd with the intention of having compensation paid.
The infected animal was placed in the herd of James Sutton at Kilgariffe, Clonakilty, Co Cork on September 29th, 1996, and they were found guilty of doing so with the intention that the cattle would be destroyed so that Herd Depopulation Compensation would be paid.
Had the depopulation grant been sanctioned, the State would have been defrauded of an estimated £75,000 (€95,000) in compensation for slaughtering the cattle.
The father and son, listed as directors of Hickey Meats, were told by Judge Reynolds that they should be ashamed of themselves.
They were charged with the offence in the district court in 2002 and the case was listed for hearing in Nenagh Circuit Court in 2004 but was delayed as Thomas Hickey was unwell.
The trial opened before Judge Reynolds in Nenagh Circuit Criminal Court on October 3rd this year and continued until November 17th.
After over four hours of deliberations, the jury of eight women and four men returned a unanimous guilty verdict.