Ironbriar doesn't want to bring attention to himself, which could happen if he used his authority like that.
When I had a similar situation, I only made Ironbriar to officialy forbid them for investigating this matter, accusing them for creating more problems than solving. Then he secretly sent his cultists to get rid of them.
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Yeah, I'd think that Justice Ironbriar would want to publicly distance himself from the PCs as much as possible. He has a position of authority, though, and a pretty good reason to send the PCs to a place where they can be ambushed and disposed of by the Skinsaw Cult. Personally, I'd have him come to them in their incarceration, and pretend to lay his cards on the table - he's been helping the Magnimar Watch investigate the Star Killer murders, and while they've suspected Aldern Foxglove for some time, they've never had anything concrete. He asks what they know, and what they can use against him.
Most likely, they'll spill their guts to the law. At that point, he spins a story - they've had "Aldern" under observation for some time, and after their botched B&E, he's fled to a hideout elsewhere in town. If they'll bring in Aldern, dead or alive, then not only will he overlook their crime, but they'd be eligible for the bounty on the Star Killer (whatever that is).
Of course, it's a trap. The faceless stalkers are holed up in the ambush point, and this time, they're assisted by a number of cultists, enough to make the point that the PCs were not expected to walk out of this. Someplace in the sewers makes sense - if you're murdering adventurers, you don't want them alerting the authorities.
It gets the PCs out of jail and back on track, and you can even use the dead cultists as a lead to the Seven's Sawmill.
