The Facts Behind the Sean Fitzpatrick Trial.

In what seems to be an incredible turn of events in the trial of ex Anglo boss Sean Fitzpatrick, it now appears that the reason for the delayed trial and the jury being discharged is that it is alleged that an employee in the Director of Corporate Enforcement office shredded files pertaining to Mr Fitzpatrick's trial. No information is available at this time as to whether the files were shredded on purpose or in error.

This would go some way to explain the inordinate delay and subsequent excusal of the jury by Judge Mary Ellen Ring and that legal argument continued without a jury being present. Jurors were told last week that a witness illness was causing difficulty in the trial which has been repeatedly delayed for the last number of weeks. Legal argument had began on April 16 and the jury were repeatedly notified by telephone that the trial would be delayed and the excuse each time was that the trial could not proceed due to “serious timetable problems”.

At no point did the jury see any evidence as legal arguments raised on the opening day led immediately to what is called a voir dire or “a trial within a trial”. This is legal speak in order to describe a procedure which takes place, namely, a procedure to determine the admissibility of certain evidence and in the case of a jury trial, the determination is made in the absence of the jury. It more than likely meant that the trial would continue with or without the witness.

In an even more bizarre twist to this story, sources have said that the employee responsible for the alleged shredding incident has been admitted to St John of God clinic in South Dublin and that goes a long way to explain the absence of this so called important witness.

The real problem with this story is that Sean Fitzpatrick may walk free due to the lack of evidence should this story be proven correct. The DOCE and the Department of Justice have not issued any statements on the veracity of the allegations as yet.

It seems that Alice in Wonderland was a true story after all!