Man sues over probe into wife’s murder

A RETIRED senior tax inspector began an action against the state yesterday claiming he was wrongfully investigated by gardaí who had an “irrational fixation” he murdered his wife.

James Livingstone found his wife bound, gagged and shot in the back of the head on December 7, 1992.

Following the murder, gardaí became “fixated” he had killed his wife, Grace. This had “blighted” the investigation, magnifying the loss for him and his children Tara and Conor, who are also suing the state, the court heard.

Mr Livingstone had come from a modest background in Monaghan, ultimately moving to Dublin after joining the civil service, and becoming a senior tax officer by 1964.

He later married Grace and the couple moved to Malahide, settling with their children.

Mr Livingstone had interests in outdoor sports, including shooting and sailing, but his life outside work was family-centred.

By 1992, as a senior tax inspector, he was involved in two huge anti-tax evasion cases, including one investigating the illegal smuggling of oil.

On December 7, at 8.20am, he had left the family home at the Moorings, Malahide.

He drove his son and a colleague who lived nearby into town.

He phoned his wife at lunch, but could get no answer.

Mr Livingstone left work that evening, dropping off his friend at 5.50pm before proceeding to his own house, the court heard.

But he suspected something was amiss. His dog did not greet him as usual out front. The porch light was off and when he opened the front door, there was no sign of dinner. A curtain was also drawn, the court heard.

Mr Livingstone went to the couple’s bedroom upstairs. His wife was lying face-down. He checked her head and thought he felt vomit. But when he turned on the light, he realised it was blood he had touched, his barrister John Rogers told the High Court.

His wife’s hands and legs were tied and her mouth was gagged. Mr Livingstone then called in to a neighbour, a nurse, for help.

Mr Rogers yesterday outlined statements from people expected to take the stand.

The colleague who had received the lift that day had later told gardaí they were “barking up the wrong tree” investigating Mr Livingstone for his wife’s murder. The neighbour was concerned his first statement to gardaí did not contain “the full record”.

The court heard a number of guns had been kept in the house, including three shotguns, a revolver, two rifles and a pistol. Witnesses described how one gun was resting against a door upstairs after the murder. Another was found under the garden hedge outside.

A statement from a local garda revealed Mr Livingstone had broken down when a local doctor had confirmed his wife was dead. Statements also taken by gardaí revealed how Mr Livingstone had believed his wife’s murder was connected to his work.

He had suggested “people [under] investigation along the border might be responsible”. It later emerged the tyres of the family’s two cars had been slashed.

Mr Rogers referred to a number of witnesses who saw a young man near the Livingstone home on the day of the murder, but whose statements were not immediately followed up by local gardaí.

These included a man who was topping trees in a neighbour’s garden, schoolchildren on their way home, as well as a man parked at the seafront who had spotted someone speeding away in a car.

Mr Livingstone had later been “wrongfully arrested” by gardaí as part of the investigation, his legal team said. He had “suffered damage” and was “pilloried” by gardaí as the murderer. This was “grossly wrong and unfair,” added Mr Rogers.

The case continues today.