Patriarch weeps as he is led off to jail

Ex-billionaire Seán Quinn was last night spending his first night behind bars after a multimillion-euro asset-stripping plot finally caught up with him.

The bankrupt businessman was jailed for nine weeks for a contempt of court and failing to untangle a scheme that put the family’s €500m international property empire beyond the reach of the former Anglo Irish Bank.

Before he was led away, the former cement, insurance, and property tycoon called for investigations into why a receiver was appointed to Quinn Group, which he built from scratch from a £100 loan.