White fails to delay Morris Tribunal

THE Supreme Court has cleared the way for the Morris Tribunal to proceed with a private inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the arrest and detention of seven people at Burnfoot, Co Donegal, in May 1998.

The three-judge court yesterday rejected an application by Detective Sergeant John White to place a stay on the Burnfoot module to allow him to bring High Court proceedings aimed at deferring that module pending the outcome of criminal proceedings against him.

Det Sgt White, with an address at Ballybofey, Co Donegal, had claimed the hearing of the module would prejudice his entitlement to a fair trial on a charge of planting a firearm at a Traveller camp at Burnfoot in May 1998.