News Corp granted copy of trial transcript for defamation case

A circuit court judge has ruled that a news organisation may receive a copy of the transcript of a criminal trial.

Judge Martin Nolan said News Corp, the owners of the now defunct News of the World newspaper, can receive the transcipt of the 2009 case as "the trial was held in public".

Counsel for News Corp, Hugh Byrne BL, previously told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that the group were seeking the transcript to aid them in a pending High Court defamation action related to the trial.

Judge Nolan said he was also granting access for the sake of accuracy in the High Court proceedings. He said it was subject to News Corp paying for the cost of the production of the transcript.

The High Court case relates to the trial of Mark Kelly (38) of Fortlawn Park, Blanchardstown who was jailed for selling stolen cars to three men including a garda.

The court heard the News of the World allegedly later ran an article claiming another man was the mastermind of the operation. This man has now taken a defamation case against the newspaper’s owners.