Surveillance was ‘oppressive’

Retired garda John Wilson has agreed that intelligence about journalist Ian Bailey was recorded on the Garda Pulse system when the Garda investigation into the 1996 murder in West Cork of Sophie Toscan du Plantier was continuing.

Mr Wilson said he stood over his view the surveillance of Mr Bailey was “oppressive” and he disagreed with the State that this was not surveillance but observation.

When Luán Ó Braonáin, counsel for the State, said Mr Bailey remains a “person of interest” in relation to the investigation, Mr Wilson said he believed Mr Bailey and his partner Jules Thomas were subject to a level of surveillance reserved for active criminal offenders.