Garda watchdog to probe conduct of Bailey case

The Garda Ombudsman has launched an investigation into how gardaí handled the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder probe.

The move by the Garda watchdog will ratchet up tensions in a highly-charged case, aspects of which are being examined by the Supreme Court.

The decision followed a complaint of alleged garda misconduct by journalist Ian Bailey, who has repeatedly denied he killed the film producer near her holiday home in Schull, West Cork, on Dec 23, 1996.

Sources have confirmed to the Irish Examiner that the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission has taken a decision to investigate the complaint.

Mr Bailey was informed of the commission’s decision on Thursday.

When contacted last night, GSOC declined to comment on the matter.

The latest development follows the emergence in November of material from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions criticising the handling of the case.

The material caused alarm in the Supreme Court, where Mr Bailey was appealing a High Court decision to extradite him to France.

Authorities there want to pursue a prosecution against him in relation to the murder of the 39-year-old French citizen.

The material included an internal review in the DPP’s office in 2001, which was critical of the conduct of the Garda inquiry. It outlined the reasons why the former director of public prosecutions, Eamonn Barnes, decided Mr Bailey should not be prosecuted.

This material only became public knowledge after Mr Barnes contacted the DPP’s office in October to alert officials of the existence of the review. The Attorney General was informed and a decision was made to provide the material to Mr Bailey’s lawyers.

Mr Bailey’s legal team told the Supreme Court that the material disclosed a “breathtaking” level of wrongdoing by state officials and that the then DPP had been of the view the investigation into the murder was prejudiced and biased.

Lawyers for the justice minister, the Garda commissioner and the superintendent leading the investigation told the Supreme Court they disputed matters in the review, and that facts not included in it “would lead to different inferences and conclusions being reached”.

Mr Bailey lodged a complaint over alleged garda misconduct in December and the ombudsman was supplied with a copy of the 44-page review.

Mr Bailey was arrested twice by gardaí, in 1997 and 1998, in connection with the murder, but was released without charge on both occasions.