Patrick James (PJ) Mansfield acquitted over ammunition charge

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Patrick James (PJ) Mansfield was acquitted of unlawfully possessing ammunition at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 5 June 2018. The case concerned 1,252 rounds of .22 calibre ammunition allegedly held at Coldwater Lakes, Saggart, County Dublin, on 29 January 2015.

Judge Cormac Quinn directed the jury to return a not guilty verdict after finding that the prosecution had not proved how many rounds Mansfield was entitled to possess under his firearms certificate. Without that evidence, the judge said, the jury would have had to speculate about how many rounds were unauthorised.

The court also heard that the reverse side of the firearms certificate had not been produced, and that the person who authorised it was not called as a witness. Mansfield had denied the charge.