A GARDA DETECTIVE has been found guilty of harassing a State solicitor by sending her abusive letters and emails.

Eve Doherty (49), a detective sergeant based in Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to a charge of harassing Elizabeth Howlin between September 2011 and March 2013. She also denied making false statements on two dates in March 2012, claiming Howlin was perverting the course of justice.

At the time, Howlin worked with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) where she was involved in deciding whether or not to direct prosecutions in criminal cases.

Over an 18-month period, letters and emails were sent to Howlin’s home, her place of work and to her GP calling her a “corrupt bitch” and an “incompetent useless hobbit”.

The material, which included A4 posters left around her housing estate, falsely claimed that Howlin was a political appointee and that she would “pull” files to prevent the prosecution of anyone connected to her or the government. Howlin is a distant cousin of the TD Brendan Howlin.

Sergeant Doherty had denied being the author of any of the material, which included anonymous emails containing similar allegations.

She admitted sending one related email from the same internet cafe as the other emails were sent from. She was wearing a wig and dark sunglasses at the time and as she made her way home while under surveillance from detectives.

After a 15-day trial, a jury of five men and six women found the accused guilty of the first charge of harassing Howlin. The jury returned a not guilty verdict on the two counts of making false statements claiming Howlin was perverting the course of justice.

Judge Melanie Greally thanked the jury for their time and care in assessing the evidence. The jury had been out for just over three hours.

Judge Greally remanded Sergeant Doherty on continuing bail until 27 October for sentence. She noted the conditions of bail included not having any contact whatsoever with parties in the proceedings.

She also said that there should be no postings on social media concerning any person or any matters relating to these proceedings.

Comments have been disabled as legal proceedings are ongoing.