Beer keg criminals sentenced over £250k theft

The case was brought forward in 2019 by Tennent's NI Ltd when they reported a large-scale theft from business premises

Two men have been handed suspended sentences over the theft of empty beer kegs worth more than £250,000.

Eamon Mimnagh 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 admitted stealing beer kegs worth £50,380 and received an 18-month sentence, also suspended.

Both men are involved in supplying kegs to the beer industry.

Mimnagh, 59, of Blackfort Road in Omagh, County Tyrone, owns Kegs Direct Ireland which supplies to pubs in Tyrone and County Fermanagh.

Lavery, also 59, of Railway Cottages in Helen's Bay, County Down, owns Kegs Direct Northern Ireland, which is based in a shared premises in Mallusk, County Antrim.

The two men worked from a business premises in Mallusk, County Antrim

Belfast Crown Court heard that, in 2019, County Down-based alcohol wholesaler Tennent's NI Ltd reported to police their "suspicion of a large-scale theft of empty beer kegs'' from its premises.

A prosecution lawyer explained that all kegs sold by breweries remained their property, with buyers under 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 Tennent's, police started surveillance operations into the activities of both defendants,'' the prosecutor said.

He added that a surveillance operation on Lavery in February 2019 "observed 916 beer kegs being loaded onto a lorry".

Mr Johnston said 468 beer kegs are normally loaded upright onto lorries on pallets, "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 said this lorry was then driven to Belfast docks and tracked to Cairnryan in Scotland.

The delivery ultimately made its way to Lithuania, where the kegs were unloaded as part of a pre-arranged sale.

None of the stolen kegs have ever been recovered.

Two of the lorries were intercepted at Dublin Port in April 2019

Similar surveillance operations against Mimnagh took place in March 2019, where he was observed loading kegs into a lorry and driving them to Belfast docks.

Again none of these kegs, worth £100,760, were ever recovered.

A further surveillance operation was carried out in April 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," the prosecutor said.

A total of 1,842 kegs worth £101,310 were recovered at Dublin Port.

'Fall from grace'

A defence lawyer for Mimnagh said he is "very ashamed of his involvement" and "his good name is now gone".

A lawyer for Lavery said testimonials submitted on his behalf referred to him as an "honourable man" who has "brought shame on himself and his family".

The judge told the court that Tennent's have now "tightened up their procedures" to make sure this sort of theft never happens again.

"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," he told the defendants.

"Even though I am suspending these prison sentences, you will still have these convictions against your names.''

Upon sentencing, Mimnagh was ordered to pay £20,000 in compensation to Tennent's.

Lavery was ordered to pay the company a further £10,000 in restitution.