‘I just had one thought ... to nail McBrearty’

A GARDA involved in the botched investigation into the death of a Raphoe cattle dealer apparently admitted he was paranoid and wanted to “nail” Frank McBrearty Snr, it emerged yesterday.

A letter reportedly written by Garda Philip Collins to Garda John O’Dowd, who was dismissed from the force last week, concedes certain evidence may have been fabricated. “I had no idea what happened to Richie Barron, I was just fooling myself that I knew,” the letter, dated March 1998, reads. “I just had one thought and that was to nail McBrearty. That bastard should have been nailed years ago. I even went as far as making a statement that he was following me, that I think was pure fantasy. I got very paranoid, John, and I got very sick.”

Mr Collins previously made a statement claiming he had noticed Mr McBrearty driving along and watching him as he visited the Peoples’ house, after they received hoax phone calls accusing them of murdering Mr Barron. He resigned earlier this year and has so far refused to appear before the tribunal due to ill health.

Mr McBrearty Jnr claimed the gardaí had no justification for arresting his father and accused certain officers of trying to frame the family. He alleged that a statement taken by senior gardaí on October 18, 1996 was not the one he had signed and excluded certain information. In an application to have tribunal counsel Paul McDermott SC and garda commissioner counsel Pat Marrinan SC apologise for interventions they made concerning the disputed statement, he said: “this tribunal has tried to frame me for murder and the people who have tried to frame me are sitting down at the back of this court.”

But tribunal chairman Justice Frederick Morris refused the application and urged Mr McBrearty not to make such lengthy submissions.

The tribunal heard that on December 4, 1996 when the McBrearty family was arrested in Donegal, Frank McBrearty Snr was in Dublin making a complaint to Labour TD Joan Burton about garda harassment. Mr McBrearty claimed gardaí in Donegal knew his father was away because Chief Superintendent Denis Fitzpatrick’s cousin was a TD who had seen him in the Dáil.

He was arrested the following day, hours after informant Noel McBride’s statement was apparently taken. “That statement was used to arrest my father,” Mr McBrearty claimed.