High Court to rule on bid for Morris Tribunal injunction

THE High Court will rule today on a bid by a Detective Sergeant to prevent the Morris Tribunal inquiring into the circumstances surrounding the arrest and detention of seven people at Burnfoot, Co Donegal, in May 1998.

The Burnfoot module was to open yesterday but is being delayed pending the outcome of Det Sergeant John White’s application.

The tribunal chairman last Friday ruled the module should proceed in private on the basis that a public hearing would prejudice Det White’s criminal trial - on a date yet to be fixed - on a charge of planting a firearm at a traveller’s camp in Burnfoot on May 22nd 1998. Det White has denied the charge.