NI legal history made as contractor admits destroying historical monument

​Prosecuting counsel confirmed to the Crown Court the case against 64-year-old Henry James Price “is the first prosecution of its kind certainly in Northern Ireland and I could not find any reported cases in England and Wales either.”

Standing in the dock, Mr Price, from Glenavy Road in Lisburn and who is the director of JH Price and Sons Ltd, entered a guilty plea that he wilfully destroyed or damaged a protected monument, namely lime kilns at Moneybroom, on a date unknown between 1 and 16 April 2021, “knowing that it was a protected monument and intending to damage or destroy the monument or being reckless whether it would be damaged or destroyed.”

According to an internet search it is difficult to establish when the kilns came into use. They appear to be first mentioned in valuation records in 1881 and a William Belshaw would take over the kilns at Moneybroom, near Lisburn, in the late 1890s.

Following Mr Price’s admission, defence counsel Michael Boyd said the defendant is “very keen to have it dealt with” before the end of term and judge Patrick Lynch KC enquired whether a compensation order would also be suitable in addition to the sentence.

While prosecution counsel Joseph Murphy said any compensation would be hard to quantify, the judge said that from the papers it appeared there had been an application for planning permission to build six homes on the land so any compensation could be tied to what benefit or profit there would have been from the building of those homes.

Describing the case as “slightly complicated,” the prosecutor told the judge however “it’s not simply the case that the defendant destroyed this monument to make way for more houses on the land.”

The planning application was not ultimately proceeded with, said Mr Murphy, adding that “financial gain, or possible financial gain...is not the only under consideration for sentence.”

“The gravamen of the offence is the fact that he wilfully destroyed what he knew was a protected monument which had significant historical value in the Lisburn area,” said the lawyer. Mr Boyd conceded there is “no suggestion that he was doing it for financial benefit” and submitted that “there’s a whole history of anti-social behaviour attached to these monuments. I can explain that in full during my plea in mitigation but it is not the case that this was done for financial gain.”

Freeing Price, judge Lynch said he would pass sentence next Thursday.

​