A detective sergeant has been charged with leaking information to a journalist in the first case of its kind.
Detective Sergeant Robert McNulty, 48, was brought before Dublin District Court this afternoon charged with disclosing details of a Commission of Investigation report into the charging of Dean Lyons, a homeless heroin addict, with two murders he did not commit.
Gardaí said that on a date unknown between 10 July 2006 and 10 August 2006, Mr McNulty disclosed the contents of the draft report into the Dean Lyons case, contrary to sections 37 and 50 of the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004.
Detective Sergeant McNulty, who is from the Rathfarnham area of Dublin, was remanded on bail to appear again before Dublin District Court on 23 November.
Former Evening Herald journalist, Mick McCaffrey, was also arrested in connection with the leaking of the report. However no charges have been brought against him.
Mr McCaffrey, who now works for the Sunday Tribune, said he regretted that the DPP had decided to bring a prosecution in this case.
He said it was the fundamental duty of a journalist to report the news, adding that he had never and would never reveal the source of any story.
