Calls of two witnesses in Du Plantier case taped

Sunday 30 March 2014 22.50

Garda recorded phone conversations with two main witnesses during the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder investigation, according to court documents seen by RT's This Week.

Recordings were made of conversations between garda and Marie Farrell, and also between garda and Martin Graham.

Ms Farrell was a local shopkeeper in the village of Schull in west Cork, while Mr Graham was an acquaintance of Ian Bailey.

Mr Bailey has accused garda of trying to frame him for the murder of Ms Du Plantier near her west Cork holiday home in December 1996.

Mr Bailey and his partner, Jules Thomas, are now suing the State.

According to acourt document prepared by garda to comply with discoveryas part of Mr Bailey's legal action, at least half a dozen calls to and from Mr Graham and garda were recorded in early 1997.

A series of calls between members of the force and Ms Farrell were recorded from early January to December of that year, according to the document.

The material includes a recording of an anonymous phone call made by Ms Farrell ringing garda under the pseudonym 'Fiona', when she claimed to have seen a man near the scene of Ms Du Plantier's murder.

The calls were recorded at a critical time in the garda investigation, during which Ms Farrell later claimed she came under pressure to wrongly identify Mr Bailey as a suspect.

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Calls of two witnesses in Du Plantier case taped