Garda watchdog to investigate handling of case

With the end of the extradition process, the focus in the ongoing Ian Bailey saga now shifts to the Garda ombudsman investigation.

As revealed in the Irish Examiner last month, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission has decided to investigate how gardaí handled the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder probe.

The investigation is one of the most sensitive to be carried out by the Garda watchdog to date.

The ombudsman’s decision followed a complaint of alleged Garda misconduct lodged by Mr Bailey in December. His complaint was made after dramatic material from the DPP was disclosed to the courts the previous month.

This material was referred to by Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman in the Supreme Court’s refusal to extradite Mr Bailey to France, overturning a High Court decision.

He said the material involved two separate letters. They included copies of emails which appeared to be written by the former DPP, Eamonn Barnes, and by Malachy Boohig, state solicitor for West Cork, and a separate memorandum about the case written by an unnamed official in the DPP’s office.

“These documents appear to record an alleged attempt by an unnamed senior garda or gardaí to procure Mr Boohig to bring political pressure to bear on the independent DPP to prosecute Mr Bailey for the murder of Madame du Plantier,” said Mr Justice Hardiman, adding that Mr Boohig resisted this attempt.

Mr Justice Hardiman said: “It would be very wrong, and it is prohibited by statute, to bring any form of pressure to bear on the DPP: It is particularly objectionable to do so, or attempt to do so, by the intervention of any holder of political office.”

He said there was also an unsigned document from the DPP’s office, a 44-page analysis of the case. It said a prosecution against Mr Bailey was “not warranted by the evidence”.

Mr Justice Hardiman added: “It appears that the former DPP considered that the Garda enquiry into the case was ‘prejudiced’ against Mr Bailey, and flawed.”

The Garda ombudsman has received copies of these documents. It has declined to comment on its investigation.