Property magnate Jim Mansfield Jnr jailed for 'foolish and selfish criminality'

The judge said Mansfield Jnr wanted to suppress CCTV footage because it connected him to the kidnapping of Martin Byrne by former terrorists

The court found that overall evidence was insufficient to establish that Jim Mansfield Junior (pictured) "was a party to the plot to kidnap Martin Byrne". File photo: Collins Courts

Property magnate Jim Mansfield Jnr, who ordered the destruction of CCTV footage showing him with his former employee, Martin Byrne, on the morning Mr Byrne was kidnapped by republican terrorists Dessie O'Hare and Declan 'Whacker' Duffy, has been jailed by the Special Criminal Court for 18 months.

Sentencing Mansfield Jnr at the three-judge court on Monday, presiding judge Mr Justice Alexander Owens said the actions of the convicted man fell into the category of "foolish and selfish criminality, whose efforts did not succeed".