Jules Thomas ordered to disclose all medical records since 1993

Ian Bailey's partner Jules Thomas must hand over all her medical records spanning a 20-year period for her forthcoming civil action for damages against the State, a High Court judge has ruled.

Mr Justice John Hedigan directed medical records from 1993, including GP and hospital records, should be handed to lawyers for the Garda Commissioner and the State.

Ms Thomas had indicated she was willing to give certain GP, counselling and psychiatric notes and records but her lawyers complained the State was seeking everything from 1993 onwards.

In 2007, Ms Thomas initiated her civil action seeking damages against the Garda Commissioner and State arising from the conduct of the investigation into the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in west Cork in late 1996. Her claim was brought on grounds including alleged wrongful arrest and false imprisonment on dates in 1997 and 2000.

A hearing date for the action has yet to be fixed for various reasons, including Ms Thomas’s pending appeal in June against Mr Justice Hedigan’s decision to permit the defence to bring a preliminary application aimed at having most of her claims struck out as brought outside the six-year applicable time limit.

Giving his ruling on the medical records issue on Tuesday, Mr Justice Hedigan said it was in everybody’s interest to get the full case on as soon as possible.

He gave Ms Thomas’s side eight weeks to produce the records and adjourned the matter to June.

Ms Thomas previously sought to be allowed to amend her claim to make additional claims concerning her psychological capacity to instruct lawyers before 2007. In a report previously read in court, a psychiatrist who assessed Ms Thomas said he believed she had been affected by depressive illness from 1996 until at least 2011 which was likely to have caused an impediment in her mental state, affecting her ability to instruct lawyers.  She was subject to “massively stressful” circumstances, the report stated.

On foot of that, the defence side applied to the court for an order requiring Ms Thomas to give them all doctors’ notes, including GP, psychology and counselling notes, from the 1990s to now.

Luán Ó Braonáin, for the defendants, said all the medical records were required. Ms Thomas was seeking to introduce a claim that the statute of limitations did not apply in her case on grounds she had been disabled and of unsound mind until 2011, counsel said.

Ronan Munro BL, for Ms Thomas, argued what was being sought by the defendants was not limited to the nature of the complaint.

Ms Thomas is the long-term partner of Mr Bailey. He lost his separate action for damages last year after a High Court jury rejected his claims of a conspiracy by some gardaí to implicate him in the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier. His appeal against that decision will be heard in 2017.