Senior counsel for the DPP, Dennis Vaughan Buckley, has reviewed the garda file in relation to the murder of Latvian Baiba Saulite and has indicated there is enough evidence against her husband to prosecute him with conspiracy to murder.

The Sunday Tribune has learned, as a result of Vaughan Buckley's appraisal of the case, detectives in the coming weeks expect the DPP to direct that Hassan Hassan be charged with conspiring to have his wife killed.

On several occasions over the past 12 months, gardaí anticipated the DDP would direct that the Lebanese national be charged in relation to the murder but the office has refused to be rushed into a decision and its review of the extensive garda file.

Saulite was shot dead by a hired assassin as she stood at the front door of her home in Swords on 19 November 2006. Her two young children slept in an upstairs bedroom while the murder took place.

Detectives probing the murder of the 28-year-old are not as optimistic that two other men face will charges in relation to her murder, one for shooting the young mother and the other for acting as the getaway driver.

Saulite's solicitor John Hennessey, whose home has been firebombed through the letterbox, had a contract taken out on his life by a known criminal in prison. Three years after her murder, he remains under armed garda protection.

"I still remain hopeful there'll be a prosecution. As I understand it, the file is still with the DPP. I'm a little disappointed it's still going on. Baiba's family can't move on and the other victims can't move on either at the moment," Hennessey told the Sunday Tribune.

Detectives believe that Hassan Hassan initially arranged for two North African men to shoot his wife. Hassan is currently serving a four-year sentence for his part in a stolen car ring and a consecutive two-year sentence for kidnapping his two children in 2004.

Gardaí have interviewed these two individuals and they have admitted following the young woman and taking surveillance shots of her which were then sent to Hassan's camera phone in prison.

However, the two Africans eventually informed Hassan they would not go through with the murder.

Officers believe the 41-year-old Lebanese national then approached a senior member of the notorious McCarthy-Dundon crime gang in Limerick and asked them for help.

It is thought the Limerick gang organised for a young Dublin-based criminal to carry out the killing. Gardaí sent an initial file to the DPP in relation to Saulite's murder in 2007.

Detectives initially expected word back from the DPP in 2008 but there have been repeated minor queries from the office over some of the statements.

After his wife's murder, Hassan applied for early release to look after his children and attend Saulite's funeral.

Following the failed appeal court hearing, he shouted to the waiting media that he was innocent of any involvement in his wife's murder.

He said: "I, Hassan Hassan, am being blamed for my wife's murder. I did not kill my wife."