Peter Bellew sees Ryanair evidence bid refused

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The High Court refused Ryanair’s application to add evidence to its contract case involving Peter Bellew. The proceedings were reported on 11 December 2019. Mr Justice Senan Allen ruled that the proposed evidence was irrelevant to the issues before the court.

The proposed evidence included a forensic report alleging that Mr Bellew had accessed and downloaded information onto company devices on three occasions since July. Ryanair accepted there might be a perfectly innocent explanation for the matters in the report.

The judge also deemed irrelevant an incident in which Ryanair alleged that Mr Bellew was going to remove a confidential document from its premises. The court heard that Mr Bellew denied wrongdoing and said he had taken the document in error while printing other documents. Once he realised he had it, he returned it to his colleague Neal McMahon.

Ryanair’s action concerned a 12-month non-compete clause that it said prevented Mr Bellew from joining easyJet. Mr Bellew denied breaching his contract and said the clause was unenforceable. After the ruling, Ryanair accepted that the proposed evidence would not be used in the action, which remained ongoing.