LAST UPDATE | 22 Mar

A THIRD GARDA has appeared in court charged with perverting the course of justice, burglary and false imprisonment of a woman following an anti-corruption investigation.

Colum Ryan, 35, with a Co Meath address, appeared at Dublin District Court today and faces five charges for alleged offences in 2021.

The officer is accused of creating and printing a search warrant and information on 30 September to pervert the course of public justice after a search on 7 September at a basement flat at Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1.

It is also alleged that between 30 September and 8 December, he procured the signatures of peace commissioner Steven Wrenn and another named man on the warrant.

He is also charged with burglary of the basement flat on 7 September, and on the same date that he detained a woman against her will at St John’s Road West, Dublin 8.

Garda Anti-Corruption Unit Detective Sergeant Garda Kieran Kilcoyne told Judge William Aylmer that the accused was arrested on 11 March at Irishtown station and “made no reply” when charged.

He added that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had directed trial on indictment in the Circuit Court.

The defendant, who was not in uniform, did not address the court or indicate a plea.

His solicitor, Elizabeth Hughes, said there was consent to an adjournment until 25 May for the State to prepare a book of evidence. There was no objection to bail.

Two other gardai and a peace commissioner have also appeared on related charges in court over the last two weeks.

On Wednesday morning, peace commissioner Steven Wrenn, 50, was in court charged with forging warrants to search two properties.

Wrenn, of Iveragh Road, Whitehall, Dublin, was granted €200 bail and ordered to appear again on 7 May to enter a plea.

The former Labour Party councillor is accused of making a false instrument, a search warrant and information between 30 September and 29 December, 2021, used to induce another person to accept it as genuine for a search carried out on 7 September, 2021, of a basement flat at Mountjoy Square, Dublin.

He is also accused of making another false instrument between August 28 and December 20, 2021, a warrant for a search on 19 June at Kenilworth Road, Dublin 6.

It is also alleged that over the same two time periods, he twice perverted the course of public justice by signing the warrants. The DPP directed summary disposal in the District Court if Wrenn pleaded guilty. Otherwise, his case will go to the Circuit Court, which has broader sentencing powers.

On Tuesday, arising out of the same investigation, Garda Sergeant Ciaran Whelan, who had worked out of Store Street station in Dublin, appeared in court charged with seven offences from 19 June until 27 September, 2021.

Garda Sergeant Whelan, who has an address in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, is accused of false imprisonment of the same woman at St John’s Road West, Dublin 8, on 7 September.

It is alleged he did acts to pervert the course of public justice by making a false report between 25 August and 15 September to a named Garda Superintendent regarding a search of a male’s flat on Kenilworth Road, Dublin 6, on 19 June.

He is charged with burglary at that flat by entering it as a trespasser to commit a theft offence.

He is also accused of perverting the course of justice on 27 September by amending data on the Garda Pulse System about two incidents.

He is accused of twice perverting the course of public justice on 28 August by allegedly creating and printing a warrant and information for a search on 19 June at the flat in Kenilworth Road, Dublin, 6.

It is further alleged that he created an incident related to that search on the Garda Pulse system on 28 August.

He is charged that on 7 September, he trespassed at a basement flat at Mountjoy Square, North, Dublin 1, to commit theft.

Garda Mark Duffy, 39, also appeared at Dublin District Court last week. He is accused of doing an act between 28 August and 20 December, 2021, intending to pervert the course of public justice.

The officer with a Dublin 15 address is also accused of burglary. In this offence, he is alleged to have entered the same Kenilworth Road flat as a trespasser on 19 June, 2021, to commit an arrestable offence.

Both garda co-defendants, who have yet to indicate pleas, are due to appear again on 17 May to be served with books of evidence.

The DPP also directed “trial on indictment” in their cases.