The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Graham Dwyer against his conviction for the murder of Elaine O’Hara.

The judges ruled unanimously that evidence from mobile-phone data at his trial had been admissible.

Dywer’s appeal against his 2015 conviction had centred on the use of traffic and location data from his work phone.

Remaining evidence

The Supreme Court found that, even if evidence from traffic and location data had been inadmissible, “the remaining evidence available to the prosecution was more than sufficient to establish attribution beyond any reasonable doubt”.

“It is clear that traffic and location data has no privileged or special status under either the Constitution or the charter [Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union]. It may be lawfully gathered, retained and accessed by a variety of actors in a wide variety of circumstances and for a variety of purposes,” the judgment stated.

Last year, the Court of Appeal had dismissed Dwyer’s appeal against his conviction on a number of grounds – including the admissibility of garda interviews conducted with him, and issues linked to evidence from mobile-phone call data.

CJEU ruling

The Court of Appeal proceedings had gone ahead after a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in 2022 in a case taken by Dwyer.

The CJEU found that EU law precluded the general and indiscriminate retention of electronic traffic and location data for the purposes of combating serious crime.

Dwyer is serving a life sentence for the murder of Elaine O’Hara.