Probe ‘plagued by false statements’

QUESTIONS should have been raised over the reliability and motivation of damning statements implicating a Raphoe publican in the death of a local cattle dealer, it was claimed last night.

The Morris Tribunal heard three pieces of vital information placing Frank McBrearty Jnr near the scene of Richie Barron’s death turned out to be “damp squibs.”

But it emerged officers probing the suspected hit-and-run failed to fully investigate whether informants were plying officers with malicious information or had simply made mistakes.