A CAB raid led to an uncovering of a stable of horror involving shocking neglect of horses and ponies.

Geoffrey Lyons, 54, from Macetown, Tara, Co. Meath, received a two‑year custodial sentence and a ten‑year ban on keeping horses after pleading guilty to multiple counts of causing unnecessary suffering to animals, as well as a separate excise‑duty evasion offence.

The case unfolded after a Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) raid and search in March 2023 uncovered over €700,000 worth of illicit tobacco at Lyons’s home.

As part of the CAB raid, searches by the Garda Mounted Unit revealed severe equine neglect across two locations.