A Dublin Garda has been jailed for three years for engaging in an 18-month campaign of harassment against a solicitor in the Office of the DPP.

Eve Doherty was in a relationship with Elizabeth Howlin’s ex-husband when she started sending her abusive letters and emails in 2011.

Between September 2011 and March 2013, Eve Doherty sent a letter to Elizabeth Howlin’s home, two to her office; she circulated leaflets around where she lived; and sent emails to various state bodies and media outlets accusing her of being “corrupt, incompetent, useless and two faced”.

Judge Melanie Greally described them as “disparaging and insulting” and said they contained many “outright and scurrilous lies”.

She was caught after leaving an internet cafe in Dublin city centre in disguise.

Judge Greally said she had to consider the malicious nature of the communications, the fact they were sent to 321 people and the fact she was a serving Garda at the time.

She also considered her accomplishments as a Garda, mental health issues and the effect her actions will have on her career - before handing down a three-year prison sentence.