Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy has ordered an inquiry to establish if members of the force knew that Baiba Saulite, the Latvian woman shot dead on Sunday, feared for her safety in the period before her death.
A key part of the inquiry will be to review the extent to which gardai took account of an arson attack on Ms Saulite's car last month, and other more minor incidents, when assessing the level of threat to her safety.
However, Garda headquarters last night insisted they had not made armed protection available to Ms Saulite because they had no evidence of a threat to her life before her murder. It is unclear if the results of the Garda inquiry will be published.
A spokesman for Mr Conroy, Supt Kevin Donohoe, said gardaí had become aware of a threat to the life of Ms Saulite's solicitor in recent months and that armed patrols were stepped up. However, he denied suggestions that the solicitor was under full-time armed protection.
The Irish Times has established the threat against Ms Saulite's solicitor, who is based in Swords, Co Dublin, was of a serious nature and represented a "direct" threat on his life. An individual approached Irish criminals to source a gun that was to be used to shoot the solicitor. News of this approach was passed on to gardaí.
The intelligence came to light after a firebomb attack on the home of the solicitor in February. A decision was then made to step up armed and unarmed patrols around the solicitor's home and workplace.
Ms Saulite was shot dead at her home at Holywell Square, Feltrim Road, Swords, Co Dublin, on Sun- day night. Gardaí believe the murder was carried out by a contract killer.
Ms Saulite's two sons, aged five and three, have been taken into care because their father is in prison. Hassan Hassan, a 35-year-old Lebanese national, is serving four years in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, for his involvement in a Middle Eastern gang that was exporting stolen cars.
Gardaí visited him in the jail on Sunday night to inform him of his estranged wife's death. Hassan was jailed in December 2004 for contempt of court after he refused to hand over the two children he had with Ms Saulite, despite court orders to do so.
According to a Garda statement released last night, court documents prepared for a sentencing hearing indicate Ms Saulite was "somewhat in fear of him".
