A father and son charged with conspiring to defraud the Minister for Agriculture of £75,000 in compensation by deliberately having a BSE-infected animal on their land with other cattle appeared at Dunmanway District Court in west Cork yesterday. They were remanded on bail.
A third man who faced a similar charge was remanded in custody but with consent to bail.
Mr Brian Wilson (54), of Castleview, Coolfadda, Dunmanway Road, Bandon, and his son, Mr Andrew Wilson (28), of Kilpatrick, Bandon, were remanded on bail in their own sureties of £5,000 as well as an independent surety of £10,000.
Mr James Sutton (46), of Kilgarriffe House, Kilgarriffe, Clonakilty, Co Cork, was remanded in custody but given consent for similar bail conditions.
According to the charge sheet, the infected animal was purchased between August and October 1996. The Wilsons will appear at Clonakilty District Court on February 17th next. Mr Sutton is due in court again next Friday.
According to gardai, an investigation has been going on since 1996 involving both a special Garda squad and Departmental experts.