Ian Bailey's damages action has been hearing secretly taped garda phone calls in which a detective is heard saying: "That statement has to get chopped up."

The Garda ombudsman is trying to track down retired gardaí as part of its Ian Bailey investigation — which has been continuing for more than two years.

The latest revelations in the Ian Bailey case are so very mind boggling that they defy even the purple prose of the penny dreadfuls.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has described as “stark” and of “serious concern” the contents of taped conversations in relation to the 1996 murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier as it emerged there were more than 130 such recordings made by gardaí.