THERE were extraordinary scenes at the Four Courts in Dublin last night, when two men were convicted of murdering the Tipperary farmer, Mr Danny Fanning.
Friends of the defendants, Ivor Sweetman and Francis Palmer, shouted scumbags at the jury, and told them and the Fanning family they were responsible for locking up innocent men.
There was tension in court when the jury returned to announce they had found Sweetman (46) and Palmer (26) guilty on murder and firearms charges.
As Judge Michael Moriarty sentenced them to life imprisonment, there were gasps of "Oh God," in the courtroom. Relatives of both the murderers and their victim broke down in tears.
The judge told the jury there were sometimes difficulties for jurors leaving a court, and it would be "sensible" if he arranged for them to leave by a side door.
After the court sitting ended, the jurors went to their room to collect their bags and coats. As they were led back through the courtroom to the judge's door, a friend of the defendants shouted at them that they were "scumbags". "The two of them are f...ing innocent," he said.
Some of the younger members of the jury - five women and seven men - looked shocked as they passed through the courtroom.
Crying relatives of the convicted men hugged them in the dock. Sweetman was crying too; Palmer was composed.
Outside the courtroom in the round hall, smiling gardai shook hands with each other and with the Fanning family. Mr Michael Fanning (34), son of the murdered man, said they were delighted.
"We always had faith in the gardai. The verdict won't bring my dad back but it's a help. And some other families might be safer now," he said.
But rowdy scenes began when a friend of the convicted men started shouting at the large group of gardai, barristers and Fanning family members in the hall.
"They're f...ing innocent, ask the f...ing police," he shouted towards Mrs Brigid Fanning. "I'm very sorry for you love, but I'm after seeing an innocent man locked up for life."
He berated the family and the gardai for several minutes as a friend tried to keep him quiet, holding him down and forcing a hand over his mouth. "Is there no security here"," a garda asked as the scuffle developed. "This is only adding insult to injury."
Eventually, another garda intervened and the two brawling men were led from the building.