The chairman of the Disclosures Tribunal said he would have to consider if there was any evidence of a “dark truth” that the former garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan or other senior officers were “going after” Sgt McCabe at the O’Higgins Commission.

A senior garda told the Disclosure Tribunal that a perceived grievance of Sergeant Maurice McCabe was the “spark that lit the fuse” in adopting a Garda legal strategy to target the motivation and credibility of Sgt McCabe at the O’Higgins commission in 2015.

Walter Scott’s admonishment — “O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!” — perfectly describes just one layer of the now runaway McCabe scandal.

Dear Sergeant McCabe... 

The events of recent days have thrown into sharp relief an earlier alleged attempt to smear Sgt Maurice McCabe at the O’Higgins commisison.