Sergeant urged man to drink after hours

AN illiterate man was told by a garda sergeant that he would pay him if he stayed in a nightclub after hours with as much drink as possible in front of him, the Morris Tribunal into garda corruption heard yesterday.

Bernard Conlon, 49, from Cartron Bay in Sligo is the key witness in the tribunal’s investigations into a maze of false allegations made against two members of the extended McBrearty family. Mr Conlon told the tribunal he had agreed to go to the nightclub owned by the McBrearty family in Raphoe, Co Donegal, in August 1997 after being prompted by Sergeant John White.

He said to me that he’d pass it on to the members and to have as much drink and to be on the premises as late as possible,” he said.