Two men were handed suspended prison sentences on Friday over the theft of empty beer kegs more than £250,000.
Eamon Mimnagh, 59, of Blackfort Road, Omagh, Co Tyrone, received a two year sentence suspended for three years after he pleaded guilty to two counts of stealing beer kegs to the value of £202,070.
Steven Lavery, 59, of Railway Cottages, Helen’s Bay, Co Down, admitted the theft of beer kegs worth £50,380 and received an 18 month sentence suspended for three years.
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Mimnagh owns Kegs Direct Ireland which supplies beer kegs to pubs in Tyrone and Fermanagh and Lavery owns Kegs Direct Northern Ireland out of premises in Mallusk, Co Antrim.
Belfast Crown Court heard that in 2019 Co Down-based alcohol wholesalers Tennent’s NI Ltd reported to police a “suspicion of a large-scale theft of empty beer kegs” from its premises.
Prosecution barrister James Johnston told Judge Paul Ramsey KC that all beer kegs sold by breweries remained their property and buyers are under a contractual obligation to return the empty beer kegs, each valued at £66, to the wholesaler or the brewery directly.
“As a result of the complaint by Tennant’s, police started surveillance operations into the activities of both defendants,” said Mr Johnston.
“On Sunday, February 10, 2019, a surveillance operation on Lavery observed 916 beer kegs being loaded onto a lorry.”
Mr Johnston said 468 beer kegs are normally loaded onto lorries on pallets in an upright position “but in this case no pallets were used and 916 kegs were stacked on their sides and the Dublin-registered lorry was packed to capacity”.
He added: “The lorry then made its way to Belfast docks and it was tracked to Cairnryan in Scotland and ultimately to Lithuania where it was unloaded as part of a pre-arranged sale. None of these stolen kegs were recovered.”
The court heard surveillance operations were conducted against Mimnagh on March 9, 2019 and March 25, 2019 where a single lorry was observed being loaded with beer kegs by Mimnagh and two other men.
The kegs were packed on their sides and then Mimnagh drove the lorry to Belfast docks on each occasion. None of these kegs, worth £100,760 were ever recovered.
A further surveillance operation was carried out on April 8, 2019 where two lorries were being filled “in an identical fashion”.
“The lorries were intercepted at Dublin docks before boarding a boat. They had been booked to go to Germany and ultimately onto Lithuania.”
A total of 1,842 kegs were recovered at Dublin port with a value of £101,310. Mr Johnston said the aggravating factors were the very high value of the thefts, the stolen kegs were sold for profit and the high degree of planning involved.
According to his defence counsel Kieran Mallon KC, Mimnagh is “very ashamed of his involvement” in the thefts and “his good name is now gone”.
“He got tempted to get involved and foolishly he did get involved in this matter. For that he is remorseful,” said Mr Mallon.
Niall Hunt KC for Lavery said testimonials submitted on his behalf referred to him as an “honourable man, a decent man, very hard working, ready to help and ready to give advice”.
He added: “He has brought shame on himself and his family. He will never be before the court again.”
Judge Ramsey said: “Tennent’s have now tightened up their procedures to make sure this never happens again.”
Addressing the defendants, Judge Ramsey said: “One does not expect to find gentlemen like you in a Crown Court facing serious charges like this.
“This has been a fall from grace for both of you. You have both indicated how this has brought shame on your professional and personal lives, not just on yourself but also on your families. Even though I am suspending these prison sentences, you will still have these convictions against your names.”
Mimnagh was ordered to pay £20,000 in compensation to Tennent’s NI and Lavery will pay the company £10,000 in restitution.
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