The journalist Ian Bailey has lost his High Court case for conspiracy against An Garda Síochána and the State.
An 11 member jury found that certain gardaí had not conspired to obtain statements from the witness Marie Farrell to implicate him in the murder of Sophie Toscan Du Plantier in 1996.
Ian Bailey had sued the gardaí and the State for damages, saying he was wrongly arrested on suspicion of the murder of French woman Ms Du Plantier in west Cork in 1996.
However, most of his claims were struck out in the closing stages of the case because the judge ruled they had not been made within the six year time limit required by law.
His claim for conspiracy by certain gardaí was allowed to proceed.
Mr Bailey ,57, and from the Prairie, Schull in west Cork sued the Garda Commissioner, Minister for Justice and the Attorney General for damages.
He told the High Court his life has been destroyed for the past 19 years because gardaí blamed him for a crime he did not commit.
Mr Bailey had originally sought damages for conspiracy, unlawful arrest, false imprisonment, assault, battery, trespass, intentional infliction of emotional and psychological damage and a breach of his constitutional rights.
However, the bulk of his claim was struck out in the closing stages of the case last week, a day after lawyers for gardaí and the State argued they had not been made within the six year time limit required by law.
The judge said the application had been made at the very latest stage in the case by counsel for the State but said they were entitled to make the application.
Mr Justice Hedigan ruled the claims were statute barred as a matter of law.
However, he also said the claim for wrongful arrest would not have succeeded as it appeared from the evidence that gardaí had reason to suspect Mr Bailey and would have been derelict in their duty if they had not arrested him.
He also ruled that Mr Bailey could not pursue a claim for damages arising out of his arrest under a European Arrest Warrant as nothing unlawful had occurred during that process.
However, the judge ruled that his claim for conspiracy could continue and go before the jury.
He said the statements by Ms Farrell were still on file and still hanging over Mr Bailey in what gardaí had said was an ongoing investigation.
Therefore the existence of these statements, which the judge said gardaí had stood over in evidence, provided Mr Bailey with an ongoing cause of action.
The judge said it was appropriate that this part of the case be decided by a jury.
The questions the jury was given at the end of the case were:
Did gardaí Jim Fitzgerald, Kevin Kelleher and Jim Slattery or any combination of them conspire together to implicate Ian Bailey in the murder of Sophie Toscan de Plantier, by obtaining statements from Marie Farrell by threats, inducement or intimidation, which purportedly identified him as the man she saw near the scene of the murder at Kealfadda Bridge on the early hours of the morning of 23 December 1996 when they knew they were false?
Did the Garda Jim Fitzgerald and Detective Sgt Maurice Walsh conspire by threats, inducements or intimidation to get statements from Ms Farrell that Mr Bailey had intimidated her when they knew they were false?
After around two hours of deliberation, the jury returned and answered "no" to both questions.
The issue of costs has been adjourned to a later date.
The judge said a transcript of Ms Farrell's evidence will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
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