THE debt collection firm owned by former criminal Martin “The Viper” Foley is turning a profit, according to its latest accounts.

GERALDINE Gilligan, the ex-wife of convicted drug dealer John Gilligan, told the High Court yesterday she lives on €80 per week from renting grazing rights at Jessbrook Equestrian Centre lands, which she owns.

The Court of Criminal Appeal has quashed the convictions of two men convicted of cruelty to animals at a dog fight in Co Kildare in the first case of its kind in the history of the state.

A KILDARE-based horse-trainer and car-dealer has become the first man in the history of the State to be jailed for his role in an illegal dog fight.