The High Court has refused Anthony Dean’s application to prohibit his trial on waste-related charges, after finding that relevant statements he made to gardaí had not been brought to the judge who granted leave for judicial review.
Dean faced charges of disposing of waste in a manner likely to cause environmental pollution, contrary to section 32(1) of the Waste Management Act 1996, and disposing of waste without a licence, contrary to section 39. The judgment does not decide those criminal charges.
Leave to seek judicial review was granted by O’Sullivan J. on 9 May 2005. The parties agreed that statements Dean made during the garda investigation were not brought to that judge’s attention. In them, he admitted dumping but denied knowing that the site was unlicensed.
Mr Justice Hedigan said the statements were relevant to the factual basis of the criminal proceedings and should have been disclosed in the application for leave, which was made without the other side present. He said he did not consider that Dean or his legal advisers had acted in bad faith. However, the statements might have led the judge to refuse leave, and their relevance made the omission material.
The Director of Public Prosecutions had not applied to set aside the grant of leave. The judge said that did not prevent the court from acting on its own initiative to control its procedures. He therefore refused the relief sought because relevant information had not been disclosed when leave was sought.
The judgment, delivered on 22 February 2008, records the refusal of the judicial review relief. It does not state the outcome of the prosecution.