crime world Episode 63: The spectacular downfall of Celtic Tiger playboy Jim Mansfield Jnr

How the former millionaire businessman fell from grace and ended up behind bars

Nicola Tallant, Sunday World investigations editor

Nicola Tallant

January 19 2022 06:00 AM

He was the playboy prince of the Celtic Tiger era and lived it up in a luxury mansion frequented by top models and socialites.

But businessman Jim Mansfield Jnr is now doing porridge with common criminals after he was found guilty of perverting the course of justice.

Over the course of a year, a sensational trial heard evidence about a who's who of paramilitaries and organised crime groups brought in by Mansfield to help claw back the family wealth after the economic crash, and of the terrifying kidnap of a former employee now turned state witness.

While Mansfield has been found not guilty of false imprisonment, his reputation lies in ruins and from his prison cell, his once gilded life must seem a million miles away.

Nicola Tallant chats with Sunday World Deputy Editor Niall Donald about the incredible fall of Jim Mansfield Jnr.