Stolen documents worth €500k to be returned

GARDAÍ have applied to the courts to have an estimated €500,000 worth of documents recovered in a criminal investigation returned to their rightful owner.

The police property application at Mullingar District Court was made by Superintendent John Gantly for the court to decide who is the rightful owner of the historic documents from the Stewart and Kincaid Collection.

The papers, lots 1-147, were listed for sale at Adams Auction Rooms, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin, in May of last year.

Lord Longford, Mr Thomas Pakenham of Tullynally Castle, Castlepollard in Westmeath, contacted gardaí to say he believed those documents were part of a collection which he reported stolen while they were being archived almost 20 years ago.

Gardaí say there will be no prosecution arising out of the 2010 investigation, but the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had directed prosecution of an individual in relation to the earlier reported theft.

That prosecution may still go ahead, but Westmeath state solicitor Peter Jones said the suspected man had absconded and is not in the jurisdiction.

Desmond Norton, a retired university professor of 4 Eaton Place, Monks-town in Dublin, also claims he is the rightful owner of the documents.

He said they were not stolen and estimated their value as being at least €500,000.

Counsel for Mr Pakenham requested that gardaí disclose all documents relating to the case, but the state solicitor said there may be a difficulty with some documents, because if they were used in court, they could possibly prejudice any future criminal prosecution relating to the earlier theft.

He said Mr Pakenham should be able to prove his ownership without access to documents involved in a potential criminal prosecution.

The documents are currently in a museum where they are being professionally looked after, he said.

Judge Seamus Hughes said the papers are “national historical documents of considerable value” and it is in the interests of all concerned that they are returned to their rightful owner.

He adjourned the case to January, asking Mr Jones to contact the offices of the DPP to consider full disclosure or reasons why all material pertaining to the investigations cannot be given to Mr Pakenham and Mr Norton.

It is expected that the application will take two days to hear but no date has yet been set for the hearing.