A Co Tipperary farmer yesterday lost a Supreme Court move to have his 16-month prison sentence for possession of angel dust, the animal growth promoter, overturned.
John Meagher, of Baptist grange, Lisronagh, Clonmel, had appealed a High Court finding which upheld the sentence. Delivering the judgment, Mr Justice O'Flaherty said in March 1991 a large quantity of cattle growth promoters was found on the farm. In one car were two 1 kg bags of clenbuterol (angel dust).
Mr Meagher challenged the validity of EU rules and in 1993 the then Supreme Court upheld the Attorney General's appeal against a High Court finding of unconstitutionality.
In 1994 Mr Meagher was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. The Supreme Court found this unconstitutional. In March 1997 he was sentenced to 16 months' jail - eight months for each bag of clenbuterol in the car. Mr Justice O'Flaherty rejec ted the claim that imposing two eight-month consecutive sentences was unconstitutional and that the Circuit Court judge had exceeded his powers.