Months after he stopped working for Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan in Brussels, his former parliamentary assistant logged into the MEP’s X account and tweeted: “Sapirse mchugh photo skinny dipping”.
It was, he told a court in Brussels, an “impulsive joke” made late one night after smoking cannabis.
Joke or not, the post caused huge damage to Flanagan’s reputation.
But why did Hayes do it?
READ MORE
Irish woman living legally in US detained after returning from visit to Ireland
Vancouver Lapu Lapu incident: 11 dead after car driven into crowd
Kneecap ‘kill your MP’ concert footage being examined by UK counter-terrorism police
Richard Satchwell: Murder trial starts on Monday and could last six weeks
Irish Times Europe correspondent Naomi O’Leary explains the background to this peculiar case, while Jack Power reports from the court where Belgian prosecutors sought a one-year prison sentence for Hayes.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon.