Con artist’s honey ‘not imported’
Blas na hÉireann, the Irish Food Awards, sent samples of the honey submitted by Julia Holmes and her partner Tom Ruttle to Germany for testing amid claims they may have passed imported honey off as their own produce.
The bodies of Holmes, 63, also known as Croen Ruttle, and Tom Ruttle, 56, were discovered by burglars who had broken into Mr Ruttle’s home at Bouliglass, Askeaton, in the early hours of May 18.
An alleged bigamist, Holmes was imprisoned in the US for a scheme in which she conned people into buying from a non-existent property portfolio in Ireland. It was also claimed that she had attempted to defraud a children’s charity last March.
Holmes and Mr Ruttle ran a honey company, Irish Bee Sensations — they entered its Irish Heather Honey into Blas na hÉireann, winning a Gold Award in its category in October 2014.
However, in March Blas na hÉireann received a correspondence in which it was claimed that the award- winning produce may have been imported.
An investigation followed, which involved Blas na hÉireann, the Federation of Irish Beekeepers’ Associations, and the Environmental Health Office.
A sample from the batch entered into the awards and a second sample secured from a retailer last April were sent to a laboratory based in Bremen for pollen analysis, to determine its botanical and geographical origin.
Blas na hÉireann academic director Joe Kerry, of the Department of Food Science at University College Cork, said the results show that the honey could have come from Ireland.
“The pollen varieties isolated and identified from the honey samples are totally typical of southern Ireland. This is wholly consistent with the information provided by Mr Tom Ruttle at the time of entry,” Prof Kerry said.
Philip McCabe, from the Federation of Irish Beekeepers’ Associations, said the report verifies that “the honey is 100% Irish”.
Artie Clifford, chairman of Blas na hÉireann said the report shows that Mr Ruttle “met all of the criteria that are set out in the terms and conditions for entering Blas na hÉireann” and described the honey as “a worthy winner”.
Last month the federation released a statement via Blas na hÉireann in which it described Mr Ruttle as “a beekeeper of long standing and highly regarded by all who knew him”.
It explained how the “well-established beekeeper” had been honorary secretary of the County Limerick Association in 2001.
“From the information available to [the federation], Tom managed over 50 colonies (hives) in a number of apiaries in south Limerick and north Kerry over a long number of years,” the statement read.
“He was a very approachable and helpful person and was very forthcoming with his help, especially to new beekeepers.
“Regarding his honey production, with over 50 hives for the past two years he would have expected to harvest an average of 40 pounds of honey per hive from production colonies.”
Mr Ruttle submitted the honey to Blas na hÉireann with a Federation of Irish Beekeepers’ Associations approval seal and registration number, which has since been verified.
