A smallholder has been jailed for helping two brothers from a notorious Irish traveller family based around Taunton blackmail two horse dealers.

After identifying and helping collect £3,000 from a Cornish victim, Joseph Beach, 31, turned his attention to a dealer in Somerset who was also told he would be shot by the IRA unless he coughed up £2,500.

The younger of the brothers, Terry McGinley, 31, is now on the run, while his brother Dennis, 32, was sentenced in 2010 at Leeds Crown Court to eight years for blackmail netting £1 million.

He and his wife Bianca, 27, who was jailed for three-and-a-half years, bought Lamborghinis and top-of-the-range Porsches with the money they extorted from farmers all over Britain.

Terry McGinley, whose last known address was Bridie’s Cot Caravan site, near Lewes, Sussex, is still being hunted by police.

Farmer and occasional horse dealer Beach, of Queensmead Farm, Sidcot, Somerset, denied conspiracy to blackmail.

But Recorder Mr Jonathan Fuller QC jailed Beach for two-and-a-half years at Exeter Crown Court yesterday, though he told him he accepted that he had been pressurised by McGinley.

He told him: “You played a secondary role but it was an integral one by providing Terry McGinley with information about individuals who could be targeted.

“You played an active part in reinforcing the threats and you arranged for the collection of the money.

“Blackmail is always an ugly offence and this is no exception.

“You were under some pressure from McGinley. It does not excuse your actions but it is relevant.”

During his trial in December, the jury heard how Beach helped the plot by setting up an elaborate charade in which he pretended to check out McGinley with a contact in Ireland, while in fact speaking to the man himself.

It helped reinforce the impression that he was so dangerous the victims had no option but to hand over their money.

The first victim, a 51-year-old businessman from south-east Cornwall, paid £3,000, but went to the police when McGinley demanded £9,000 more.

The second, 76 and from North Somerset, went straight to the police rather than handing over the cash, Exeter Crown Court was told.

Beach claimed he was also a victim of the blackmail plot and acted under duress. He said he sold his stock, horses and a lorry to pay off McGinley before he was coerced into helping him.

He said: “When I ran out of things to sell I was knackered and backed into a corner. I thought it would get me some breathing space.

“I was at his beck and call. McGinley was on the phone constantly. There was nothing I could do. I thought he might harm my family. I had to do what he said.”