Barron murder ‘confession’ did not exist, McBrearty tells tribunal
Superintendent John J Fitzgerald told the Morris Tribunal he had tried to contact the Director of Public Prosecutions as soon as he was given the statement on December 4, 1996.
But Mr McBrearty said the document did not exist, which, he said, explained why no further action was taken against him that night.
“You did not ring the DPP because there was no statement,” he said to Supt Fitzgerald. “You got into a panic in Donegal and that’s when you made up the statement.
“That’s why the DPP was not contacted for two years.”
Supt Fitzgerald refuted the claim. He said he attempted to contact the DPP but had been unsuccessful.
“That was the only evidence at that time which put you and Mark McConnell (his first cousin) at the actual scene,” he said. “And that statement was going nowhere without further proper investigation.”
He said it would have been fruitless and totally premature to seek any direction from the DPP at that stage and had only tried to contact the DPP “as a matter of etiquette”.
Mr McBrearty claimed the call had not been made because the statement never existed.
He was arrested and questioned on suspicion of murder that night at Letterkenny Garda Station but alleges that the confession was fabricated by gardaí after his release.
Tribunal chairman Justice Frederick Morris told Supt Fitzgerald that the tribunal had heard from an expert garda witness that the correct step to take would have been to inform the DPP.
“Why not keep trying until you got someone?” he asked. “Did you sense there was something wrong with the statement at that stage, is that why you didn’t advance it?”
But Supt Fitzgerald said he had not pressed matters as they were a “long, long way” from a charge.
Mr McConnell asked why no statement was taken for 13 months from Wilma Laird, who placed him in a local cafe at a key time on the night of Mr Barron’s death in October 1996.
“I could have been completely ruled out of the entire equation if we had followed that up but you didn’t want to,” he said to Supt Fitzgerald.
Supt Fitzgerald, who was in charge of the Letterkenny district at the time of Mr Barron’s death, said Frank McBrearty Sr’s “interference” in the case had been obstructive and totally unhelpful.
The tribunal was adjourned until Monday, November 1.
