Farmer fails to remove cattle from land

A FARMER was accused of playing ducks and drakes with the courts after it emerged he had failed to remove cattle from land due for repossession for four years.

Eugene Costello, who was ordered to surrender his land in Co Roscommon to Carlisle Mortgages in November 2006 after falling into arrears, narrowly avoided jail when he was given one last chance to come to court and explain himself in two weeks’ time.

Carlisle sought an order for his committal, telling Judge Brian McGovern in the High Court that Mr Costello failed to remove the 140 cattle and an unknown quantity of calves after the repossession order and also defied two direct orders by the court since.