The European Court of Justice has ruled in favour of Graham Dwyer’s arguments against the legality of a law governing mobile phone data.
The law, which compelled service providers to retain certain data, was used to access records as part of the investigation into Elaine O’Hara’s murder.
The Dublin architect is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of the childcare worker.
Call records and evidence of where certain phones were at various times were used at trial.
But in 2018, Dwyer’s team successfully convinced the High Court that the law which allowed for the retention of such data contravened EU law.
The significance of the decision was huge in that it could be argued that GardaÍ didn’t have a right to access the data in such a way.
The State appealed that decision to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court sought clarity from Europe, which has today left the issue in no doubt.
In its ruling, it “confirmed that EU law precludes the general and indiscriminate retention of traffic and location data for the purposes of combating serious crime.”
The Supreme Court will have to uphold today’s ruling, which will no doubt strengthen Dwyer’s hand when he eventually moves to appeal his murder conviction.
Follow @98FM online for all the latest news
