Prof John Harbison served as the State pathologist for nearly 30 years and worked on some of the most high-profile murder cases in the Stateâs history over that period. Prof Harbison, who died on Friday, became the Stateâs first forensic pathologist in 1974 and conducted postmortem examinations until 2003. He was the pathologist in many high-profile cases including the Kerry babies case, the Sophie Toscan du Plantier case, the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin, and the investigation into the Grangegorman killings. In the Kerry babies case, Joanne Hayes was wrongly accused of murdering an infant found on a Co Kerry beach more than 35 years ago.