Hutch party GSOC officer could face 7 YEARS behind bars CONY

Investigator being quizzed over 'leaks'

- MICHAEL O'TOOLE and JOHN HAND

THE FORMER GSOC investigator who quit after allegedly attending a party with Gerry Hutch could face a maximum seven-year jail term, it has emerged. 

The Irish Mirror has established that the ex-staff member at the independent policing watchdog was arrested on suspicion of illegally leaking information.

Sources have confirmed he is being quizzed on suspicion of breaching the Garda Siochana Act of 2005.

That act outlaws gardai from leaking information that causes harm, but there is also an identical section that specifically covers the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission, or GSOC.

Anyone convicted of that offence faces a fine up to €75,000 and could also be hit with a jail term that could reach seven years.

It’s believed to be the first time that a serving or former GSOC employee has been arrested on suspicion of leaks.

The ex-investigator, who is in his 60s, was arrested by detectives from the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation at his home in North Dublin early yesterday, less than a week after we exclusively revealed that he had quit his post in GSOC.