Jim Mansfield Jr will be sentenced next month for attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The businessman was found to have directed a security officer to destroy CCTV evidence linking him to the kidnapping of another former employee.

Mansfield (54) stood trial before the non-jury Special Criminal Court accused of being part of a conspiracy to kidnap the Mansfield family’s former head of security, Martin Byrne, in an effort to force him out of his home.

The prosecution claimed he had essentially “delivered him up” to a criminal gang under the pretence of accompanying him to a business meeting.

However, the judges cleared him of the charge today after failing to find sufficient evidence to support the allegation that he knew what was in store for his former employee.

He was convicted of a separate charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice by directing another member of his security team to destroy CCTV footage relevant to the investigation.

He was taken into custody for the first time this afternoon ahead of his sentence hearing next month.