The Dutch meat trader at the centre of the 2013 horse meat scandal has been jailed for 30 months by judges in Den Bosch.

Willy Selten was found guilty of fraud for making false invoices and delivery notes which allowed him to pass off thousands of kilos of horse as beef. The public prosecution department had called for a five-year jail term.

The court said Selten’s actions had damaged the reputation of the Dutch meat industry at home and abroad. He had also caused a great deal of unease in society as a whole, judges said.

Selten was found guilty of mixing over 300,000 kilos of horse into products which were labelled as pure beef.

Selten had admitted making mistakes but denied that he deliberately committed fraud by using horse meat in order to earn more money.

The court said it had taken the fact Selten’s company has gone bankrupt and an €11m claim against him into account when passing sentence.