Morris Tribunal unearths bizarre tales of death and deception

TALES, unprecedented and extraordinary, of death, deception and destructive ambition unfolded this week in a Donegal courthouse.

Many of the allegations of garda corruption in the Donegal division that have been circulating for years were clinically revealed in the Morris Tribunal's opening statement by lead counsel Peter Charleton, and later by his colleague Paul McDermott.

Statements made to various garda inquiry teams, most notably the Carty investigation, were detailed, but the stories told in many cases were so wildly contradictory that at every point lies have been told.

It's the tribunal's task to find the truth. First, there's the bizarre story of Adrienne McGlinchey and her dealings with Detective Garda Noel McMahon and Superintendent Kevin Lennon. She apparently pretended to be closely linked with the PIRA and was treated with suspicion by most gardaí. But not, it appears, by Det Sgt McMahon and his superior officer in Buncrana Supt Kevin Lennon, who saw her as a potential source of information.

She claims that the pair were involved in the planting of explosive substances fertiliser and icing sugar at locations in Donegal. The pair would then take credit for finding them to further their careers.

This is denied by the two gardaí, but despite numerous arrests and the almost comic sight of her trying to get rid of the incriminating fertiliser by throwing it out the window, she was never charged. Gardaí were told to lay off.

It was she who claimed Det McMahon told her that two gardaí had killed Richie Barron, the Donegal cattle dealer whose death sparked the Carty probe. It was also claimed an increasingly erratic Det McMahon had pointed a loaded gun at another garda.

Then there was Ardara, the row over the siting of a telecom mast. It escalated to an arson attack and then a crude explosive device was attached to a cable. The Diver brothers, Anthony and Hugh, and their brother-in-law Bernard Shevlin, were arrested on suspicion of planting the device, but claim to have been set up.

By midweek, Detective Sergeant John White entered the tale. He, it is claimed, and denied by him, planted a shotgun on land close to a Traveller's camp prior to a search operation by gardaí. The search was authorised by Supt Lennon after Sgt White claimed two informers had linked the Travellers to a series of robberies and the death of an elderly man, Eddie Fitzmaurice. The two informers later said they did not pass on this information. The death of Richie Barron, and the garda investigation, was the focus of the first Carty inquiry into allegations of misconduct. The opening statement revealed allegations that a catalogue of mistakes were made at the start of the investigation: that the scene was not preserved; and murder inquiry was launched despite the lack of evidence The treatment of the McBrearty family and associates is the key. Two men, Mark McConnell and Frank McBrearty Jnr were identified as suspects within 48 hours. This information came primarily from Garda John O'Dowd, who claimed an informer had seen the two in the vicinity of the murder. Yet, William Doherty, admittedly described as a compulsive liar, claims Gda O'Dowd had concocted a story and asked him, Doherty, to make a statement.

Doherty said he would get another person Noel McBride to do so, but it was not until a month later that McBride made the false statement claiming the pair were in the area around the time of the death.

Yet, in early December, following the October death, McBrearty and McConnell were arrested. From interviews with two gardaí from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, McBrearty purportedly admitted his guilt. But he claims to have made no such statement.