Detective accused of forging letter was lying, says State

Lawyers for the State have told a jury that a garda on trial for forging a letter from the DPP was lying to the point of no return.

Wicklow detective garda Catherine McGowan, aged 48, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to one count of forgery on January 15, 2009, at Bray Garda Station and two counts of using a false instrument at Bray Garda Station and at Harcourt St Garda Station between June 21 and 22, 2011.

The instrument is alleged to have been a letter from the DPP, dated January 14, 2009, directing that there be no prosecution in a clerical child abuse case.