Property magnate Jim Mansfield Jnr, who ordered the destruction of CCTV footage showing him with his former employee on the morning he was kidnapped by republican terrorists Dessie O'Hare and Declan 'Whacker' Duffy, has been jailed by the Special Criminal Court for 18 months.
Sentencing Mansfield Jnr at the three-judge court today, presiding judge Mr Justice Alexander Owens said the actions of the convicted man fell into the category of "foolish and selfish criminality, whose efforts did not succeed".
The non-jury court found that when Mansfield Jnr ordered the CCTV footage to be destroyed, he knew there would be a major criminal investigation including an examination of his role in these events.
"He did it to distance himself from any involvement with Declan Duffy and Dessie O'Hare and to hide his association with gangsters," added Mr Justice Owens.
Last month, Mansfield Jnr was taken into custody after he was found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice by directing Patrick Byrne to destroy recorded CCTV footage showing Mansfield Jnr with his former employee Martin Byrne departing from Finnstown Park Hotel, Newcastle Road, Lucan, Co Dublin on June 9 2015, when Mr Byrne was later kidnapped by former terrorists Dessie O'Hare and Declan 'Whacker' Duffy.
Delivering judgement at the non-jury court on January 17, presiding judge Mr Justice Owens said that the evidence established to the requisite standard of proof that Mansfield "was prepared to hinder an investigation into very serious criminal activity" by instructing Patrick Byrne to destroy a CCTV hard drive holding footage of himself and Martin Byrne leaving Finnstown House Hotel on the morning of June 9, 2015.
He added: "This direction was given by James Mansfield to Patrick Byrne with intent to pervert the course of justice. This is an effort to destroy CCTV footage which was of potential value in any garda investigation or prosecution relating to the kidnapping of Martin Byrne. James Mansfield wanted to suppress this footage because it connected him to events of June 9 2015."
The 54-year-old, of Tasaggart House, Garters Lane, Saggart, Co Dublin was acquitted by the Special Criminal Court of a separate charge of conspiracy to falsely imprison Martin Byrne, who had previously provided security for the family business, on a date unknown between January 1, 2015 and June 30, 2015, both dates inclusive.
The non-jury court found that although there was contact between Mansfield Jnr, O'Hare and Duffy "for nefarious purposes", the evidence was "insufficient" to establish that Mansfield Jnr had "deliberately lured" Martin Byrne there to attend the meeting at Keatings Park as part of a plan to facilitate O'Hare in the kidnap and removal of Martin Byrne. In addition, the court also found that overall evidence was insufficient to establish that Mansfield "was a party to the plot to kidnap Martin Byrne".
The three-judge court said it could not "completely exclude as a reasonable possibility" either a scenario that Mansfield was misled by O'Hare as to the purpose of the meeting at Keatings Park, or a scenario that he was not privy to a plan by O'Hare and Duffy to kidnap Martin Byrne. "This court has no way of knowing how much, if any, knowledge, control or direction Mansfield had of the forces which he unleashed when he decided to recruit O'Hare to his purposes," said Mr Justice Owens.
However the court was satisfied from the evidence that Mansfield was aware that members of the INLA and the New IRA had been engaged on his behalf in dealing with threats from traveller gangs and his efforts to "get back in control of assets" held by business associates. Furthermore, the court found that the evidence showed that Mansfield had become involved with "some very dangerous players".
Mr Justice Owens, sitting with Judge Sinead Ni Chulachain and Judge James Faughnan, sentenced Mansfield to two years imprisonment with the final six months suspended for a period of six months, backdated to January 17 2022, when he went into custody.
Mansfield Jnr had pleaded not guilty to conspiring with one or more persons to falsely imprison Martin Byrne on a date unknown between January 1, 2015 and June 30, 2015.
He had also denied attempting to pervert the course of justice by directing Patrick Byrne to destroy recorded CCTV footage, with the alleged intention of perverting the course of public justice in relation to the false imprisonment of Martin Byrne, 53, at Finnstown House Hotel, Newcastle Road, Lucan, Co Dublin between June 9, 2015 and June 12, 2015.
In 2019, O'Hare was jailed for seven years for falsely imprisoning Mr Byrne. Duffy was jailed for six years in 2018 for the same offence.
