Joseph Kiernan, a scrap metal dealer from a traveller background, is accused of the theft of a copper cylinder from the shed of Ronald Sibley. The Prosecution say that Kiernan was seen after midnight in the garden of Mr. Sibley and the next morning was seen by a police officer hiding the cylinder under his lorry. Kiernan does not deny handling the cylinder or being in Mr. Sibley's garden but says the cylinder was planted to incriminate him and he was simply retrieving it - the case against him is motivated by hostility towards travellers.