Sentence appeal for sending pig’s head to garda

The man jailed last month for sending a pig’s head to the home of a garda may not be lying on a sun-kissed Spanish beach in the autumn after all.

Last month, Judge Gerald Keys imposed a two-year jail term on Brendan Mahoney, aged 48, for sending the pig’s head to the home of Garda Paul Heaslip and his wife Natalie O’Neill in January 2012.

As a result of receiving the rotting severed head, which was split down the middle, the frightened couple were forced to leave behind their life in west Clare.