Two detective gardaí accused of forging notes of an interview and of committing perjury during the trial of a man suspected of involvement in the Omagh bombing have been found not guilty by direction of the trial judge.
Judge Desmond Hogan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court directed the jury to acquit the detectives following his ruling that the allegedly forged interview notes and technical analysis of them were inadmissible.
Det gardaí John Fahy (53) of Glaslough, Co Monaghan and Liam Donnelly (50) of Cavan town gave evidence in the 2001 trial of Colm Murphy and had pleaded not guilty to charges of perjury, forgery and using a forged document.
The detectives have been found not guilty of two counts of perjury in that they knowingly and falsely swore under oath that the purported notes of their interview with Colm Murphy on February 22nd, 1999 had not been rewritten and were an accurate account, on dates between October 18th and November 15th, 2001 at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin.
They have also been acquitted of two counts of forging notes of an interview with Mr Murphy on a date between February 21st and 22nd, 1999 and using a forged document at the 2001 trial with the intention to deceive.
Judge Hogan's ruling came on day six of the trial following three days of legal argument in the jury's absence.
He found that the prosecution was unable to establish a chain of custody in relation to the original interview notes or of the later "electrostatic document analysis" of them.
Paul O'Higgins SC, prosecuting, told the jury in opening the case on day two of the trial that Mr Murphy was arrested in February 1999 in connection with the Omagh bombing and was systematically interviewed by teams of gardaí.
Mr O'Higgins said Mr Murphy was interviewed by the two accused men between 3.45pm and 5.45pm. Det Garda Donnelly made notes and Det Garda Fahy primarily asked questions.
The prosecution's case was to have been that the third page of interview notes was not the only third page of notes made.
Mr O'Higgins told Judge Hogan yesterday that in light of the court's ruling no further evidence could go before the jury which could lead to a conviction and asked that a direction be given to the jury to return not guilty verdicts on all charges.