A disgraced vet, turned alcoholic, has begun a 15-month jail term for plotting with Border farmers to defraud the British Ministry of Defence of over £100,000.
Downpatrick Crown Court, sitting in Belfast, heard that Séamus Fegan (41), the father of five children, was "the key" to the conspiracy of fraudulent claims for animals allegedly driven to their deaths by low-flying army helicopters.
After a five-month trial in February, Fegan, from Burren, Warrenpoint, Co Down, was convicted by majority verdicts of 31 charges of conspiracy to defraud.
The veterinary surgeon asked yesterday for a further 12 charges to be taken into account, in a case which has already cost £6 million to prosecute.
Fegan provided death certificates for hundreds of animals. In one case he claimed that in one day he carried out 300 post-mortems on sheep and cattle, including 80 turkeys, an "impossible and incredible" task.
Although the Ministry paid out millions of pounds in compensation in the 1980s and early 1990s, such claims dropped to almost nothing once police began to investigate.
Among those in court to give evidence on Fegan's behalf was television personality Frank Mitchell, who said Fegan had been a respected member of the Burren community, which was shocked at his downfall.
The court also heard that Fegan's community had rallied behind him and guaranteed to pay back £14,000 in fees which he received as part of the fraud and which the court ordered he repay as compensation.
Mr Eugene Grant QC, defending, claimed Fegan "became trapped in a web" in which he was not the main beneficiary and that a once great man had been reduced by mental and physical deterioration to become an alcoholic with suicidal thoughts aggravated by hypertension and depression.
Lord Justice Campbell said the case was not only a tragedy for Fegan and his family but also for his community, which had considered him "their brightest star".