Businessman Jim Mansfield Jnr jailed for attempting to pervert course of justice

Mansfield was sentenced to two years in prison, with the final six months suspended, at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin.

Jim Mansfield Jnr (Niall Carson/PA) (PA Archive)

Businessman Jim Mansfield Jnr has been jailed for 18 months after he was convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice by ordering the destruction of CCTV footage.

Mansfield was sentenced to two years in prison, with the final six months suspended, at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin

He was acquitted of the more serious charge of conspiring with others to have one of his employees kidnapped by a criminal gang.

Mansfield, 54, of Tassagart House in Saggart, Dublin, had denied both charges.

He denied conspiring with one or more people between January 1 and June 2015, to falsely imprison Martin Byrne, who had previously provided security for the Mansfield family business.

Businessman Jim Mansfield Jnr leaving Dublin’s Central Criminal Court (Niall Carson/PA) (PA Archive)

He also denied directing Mr Byrne’s brother, Patrick Byrne, to destroy CCTV footage at Finnstown House Hotel.

Delivering the sentence, Mr Justice Alex Owens said that Mansfield was “foolish and selfish” in his criminality.

He said that Mansfield tried to hide his association with gangsters by ordering the destruction of CCTV.

He said the offence “strikes at heart of public interest”, and that Mansfield sought to obstruct the course of the investigation when he instructed Patrick Byrne to destroy the CCTV footage.

Mr Justice Owens said that Mansfield knew the arrangement with Dessie O’Hare was “fraught with danger” and that he watched the kidnapping of Mr Byrne and that he was placed in “great danger”.

He said that Mansfield knew the kidnapping would be the subject of a serious criminal investigation and that he tried to distance himself from what happened with O’Hare.

Jim Mansfield Jnr was sentenced to two years in prison, with the final six months suspended (Niall Carson/PA) (PA Archive)

He also said the purpose of the instruction was to impede the investigation and hide his association with gangsters.

The three-judge court found last month that Mansfield lied to gardai when he denied arranging a meeting between Mr Byrne and Dessie O’Hare and Declan Duffy, which led to Mr Byrne’s kidnapping.

O’Hare was sentenced to seven years in 2019 for falsely imprisoning Mr Byrne. Duffy was jailed for six years in 2018 for the same offence.

Mansfield, a father-of-two, waved to members of his family as he was led from the court.

Defence barrister Bernard Condon told the court earlier on Monday that the offence of which Mansfield has been convicted does not contain the “aggravating features” usually accompanying the crime.

Mr Condon told the court that it was not accompanied by a threat or inducement, nor was the instruction successful.

He said that Mr Byrne’s brother Patrick continued to work for the business for a period of time, and that there was no threat or intimidation.

Mr Condon said the offence was at the lower end of the scale.

He said the case has been hanging over Mansfield for a number of years, that he was a man in his mid-50s and that the matter “weighed upon him”.

The court was told that local people spoke “highly of him”, that Mansfield had a jovial personality, was an enthusiastic person and was “personable” to deal with.

The barrister provided a report contained in the Irish Independent in which Mansfield went to the aid of a well-known golfer and pilot who were involved in a helicopter crash in 2010.

The court heard that Mansfield has dyslexia, that he did not complete state exams and left secondary school to help his father in his business.

A report from a consultant clinical psychologist said that Mansfield has an intellectual ability in the lower range.

The court was also told that Mansfield is well-known, and that his family are involved in the hotel business and are “well regarded by locals”.

Mansfield lives with his mother in Dublin and is her main carer, the court also heard.

The court was also told that Mansfield has no relevant previous convictions.

The hotel business is now run by his 27-year-old son, James.