A sitting of Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court heard a flock of around 18 sheep including ewes and lambs were penned into a shed with no water and which contained the carcass of a ram.

The animals were found washed up on Nairn Beach on Sunday, and it is not yet known what caused their deaths.

The ewes were taken from a field in Claudy and comes after another theft of sheep in the area last month.