Former Richest Man Sean Quinn In Jail

The bankrupt former billionaire businessman Sean Quinn is said to be "traumatized but defiant" after beginning a nine week jail sentence after the High Court in Dublin found him in contempt of court.

Mr Quinn owes €2.8 billion to the state-owned Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), formerly Anglo Irish Bank.

The bank has detailed the extraordinary lengths to which Mr Quinn and his family have gone to put millions of euro worth of assets beyond its reach.

Mr Quinn disputes the amount of money he owes, and his family and friends have launched a massive public relations campaign in his defence.

Thousands of supporters have rallied on the streets of his home town in Co. Cavan - they say Mr Quinn is being scapegoated and is the target of witch hunt by the establishment.

But Judge Elizabeth Dunne in the High Court last Friday said Mr Quinn "only had himself to blame" as she sentenced him to nine weeks behind bars.

In June she said he had ignored a High Court order from 2011 not to put assets beyond the reach of the bank, and his actions had been "nothing short of outrageous".

His jailing came just two weeks after his son Sean Jnr finished a three month term in jail for the same contempt, and his nephew Peter Daragh crossed the border into Northern Ireland to avoid a similar jail term.

On Friday, Mr Quinn was given the option by the bank of a stay on his sentence, while his appeal was heard by the Supreme Court.

But Mr Quinn said he wanted to begin serving his nine week sentence straight away.

It means Mr Quinn will be behind bars for his 67th birthday, and for Christmas - his release date is January 4th.

His lawyers applied that he be released on December 22nd on compassionate grounds, so that he could attend his grandchild's christening.

The judge said he could make that application to the prison authorities.

Miss Justice Dunne earlier said Mr Quinn's contempt was so serious that she could come to no other conclusion that it mandated a term of imprisonment.

She could not ignore the extent and degree of contempt by Mr Quinn and, taking all various matters into account, including his health problems, she would impose a nine-week term.

Once the sentence was handed down, a tearful Mr Quinn hugged his family and supporters, and gave an impromptu press conference to reporters inside the courtroom in which he asked the media to concentrate on what Anglo Irish Bank's role had been in the whole affair.

"They took all my money, took my companies, they took my reputation and put me in jail - but yet they've proven nothing," he said.

"The media had been sold a pup by the bank. You people have been led by the nose."

He was then taken away by Garda van to Mountjoy prison, where he is serving his time in the training unit, where he enjoys his own room and an "open regime" within the walls of the prison.

His son Sean Jnr visited him twice at the jail inside the first 24 hours.

And other members of his circle of supporters called to see him too, including his local parish priest.

Fr Gerry Comiskey said Mr Quinn was traumatised by defiant after his jailing.

Fr Comiskey said he was worried by the level of anger among Mr Quinn's supporters.

"What I am concerned about is the almost palpable anger in Cavan and Fermanagh now," he said.

"Naturally I'd like to say to the workers and concerned citizens to think long and hard and not to be short sighted in any respect. It'll be important for everybody who is talking about this and making decisions not to do anything that would jeopardize the jobs, the welfare or the wellbeing of the workers."