'Gardai pressured State Solicitor on Bailey'

Material dating back to 2001 but disclosed to lawyers for Ian Bailey just months ago alleged an unnamed senior garda or gardaí tried to get the State Solicitor for West Cork to put political pressure on the Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute the journalist for the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, a Supreme Court judge noted today.

Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman, who was among five judges who allowed Manchester-born Mr Bailey's appeal against extradition, noted this alleged attempt was made despite a view within the DPP's office that there was no evidence to warrant the prosecution of Mr Bailey for the 1996 murder, which he has always denied.

The judge also noted, during Mr Bailey's Supreme Court appeal last month against his extradition to France, counsel for the State, Robert Barron SC, had made no comment at all on the allegation of an attempt by a garda or gardaí to get a politician to intervene with the DPP to have Mr Bailey prosecuted, despite the finding the evidence did not warrant that.

The State had neither admitted nor denied this, the judge said.

In November 2011, while Mr Bailey's appeal was pending, the State authorities wrote to his lawyers enclosing copies of the materials, dating back to 2001, the judge noted.

The materials included copies of emails which appeared to have been written by the former DPP, Eamonn Barnes, and by Malachy Boohig, State Solicitor for West Cork, plus a separate memo about the Bailey 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."

That attempt was resisted by Mr Boohig who had immediately informed the DPP who recorded the information as set out, the judge said. Apart from that, the DPP had "preserved silence on the matter and kept it confidential until the last possible moment, in November 2011".

The judge also noted the Bailey side was provided with an unsigned 44-page analysis of the case of Mme Du Plantier produced by the then DPP or in his office which concluded "a prosecution against Bailey is not warranted by the evidence".

This was "a detailed and reasoned document", in which numerous pieces of individual evidence were individually considered, he said.

It was "most unusual", the judge added, that such documents, plainly internal to the prosecuting and investigating authorities, were disclosed in this fashion. It appeared the email documents were generated when Mr Barnes sent them, or some of them, to his successor's office who sought the advice of the Attorney General who advised the documents should be disclosed "on the basis of their manifest importance".

Mr Justice Hardiman noted the Supreme Court had agreed to admit this material for Mr Bailey's appeal but that, arising from a State request that the court first rule on three legal issues in the appeal, which request was agreed to by the Bailey side, the ground of appeal based on the newly disclosed material was adjourned pending the Supreme Court's decision on the other issues.

All that now needs to be said about the newly disclosed material was that the decision not to prosecute Mr Bailey was based on a detailed view of the evidence put forward by the gardaí, not on technicalities or a preconceived attitude, he said. It also appeared the former DPP had considered the Garda enquiry into the case was prejudiced against Mr Bailey and flawed.

Mr Justice Hardiman also noted, when seeking to have the issue concerning the new material adjourned in Mr Bailey's appeal, Mr Barron had said he was doing so at the request of the Minister for Justice and in the contest of what counsel called a "spat" between law enforcement agencies concerning the new material.

Counsel had said gardai might object to the contents of a critical review of the Garda investigation into the murder carried out by the former DPP or someone within his office in 2001, the judge noted. Mr Barron had also said the gardai had had the DPP's review document for over 10 years and had internally objected to the document.