Ian Bailey, a journalist who believes that attempts were made to frame him for a murder, is likely to create legal history in Ireland in the coming weeks.
Two of the state's former directors of public prosecutions are being called to appear in the Dublin high court to give evidence in his action for wrongful arrest.
The decision to call former DPPs, James Hamilton and Eamonn Barnes, to testify in a civil trial is unprecedented.
Bailey's action stems from his detention, in 1997 and 1998, as part of the police investigation into the murder of French filmmaker Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
I outlined the case in a posting in June this year. Her badly beaten body was found near the laneway leading to her isolated holiday home near Schull in Co Cork in 1996.
Bailey, a British freelance journalist who was once a crime reporter in Manchester, has consistently stressed that he was innocent of the crime.
He said he had never met du Plantier and pointed out that there was no forensic evidence linking him to the scene.
Despite one of the biggest investigations in Irish criminal history, no-one has ever been charged of the murder. But the police pursued Bailey for years.
Now he is pursuing them. For 18 years Bailey, now 56, he has been fighting to clear his name and, in order to help him prove his innocence, gained a law degree.
Aside from suing the Irish state for wrongful arrest he has accused a number of named police officers of attempting to frame him.
The state is expected to challenge the giving of evidence by the former DPPs. Today's Irish Independent article on the case quotes a source close to the office of the current DPP as saying: "This is uncharted territory."
It adds that legal experts believe Bailey's high court action, which is due to begin on 4 November, "could prove a landmark in Irish legal history."
Sources: Irish Independent/Private information
