Merits of witness protection scheme are questioned

TAXPAYERS forked out close to €500,000 last year to relocate supergrasses who gave State evidence to convict criminal accomplices.

The bill for the State’s witness protection programme more than doubled last year to €457,110, up from €190,079 the year before.

The programme which was intended to allow accomplices in serious crimes to turn supergrasses and give evidence in order to secure convictions was first introduced in 1997 in the wake of the Guerin murder.