Garda chief not told of hit and run

GARDA Commissioner Noel Conroy yesterday admitted he was not informed about the reclassification of cattle dealer Richie Barron’s death for over two years.

Frank McBrearty Jnr and his cousin Mark McConnell were originally arrested for the Donegal man’s death.

However, despite the Barron case being redesignated from murder to hit and run in February 2002, Commissioner Conroy yesterday said this information only arrived on his desk around November 2004, when he then personally informed the McBreartys in writing.

Asked the reason for the delay in informing the McBreartys, Commissioner Conroy said he made the information available when it reached him.

“You can appreciate it took some time to decide on various issues and certain evidence was given at the Morris Tribunal and certain decisions were made.”

Matters like the Barron case “didn’t really hit the commissioner’s table”, he added. “When it comes to reporting on designated crime, it’s a matter for the district officer in the area concerned,” said the commissioner.

The issue had been raised at a press briefing on a new code of practice for cash-in- transit companies.

However, Fine Gael was critical of the explanation.

“Commissioner Conroy had visited Donegal himself as Deputy Commissioner to see the situation at first hand. He furthermore had possession of the Carty Report and was in full knowledge of the facts.

“How he can claim that the redesignation of a case which was a raging public controversy was not brought to his attention until two years later is simply beyond belief,” said Fine Gael’s justice spokesperson Jim Higgins.

Meanwhile, a Sligo man broke down crying after he admitted making false statements about a silver bullet death threat, the Morris Tribunal heard yesterday.

Bernard Conlon, 49, from Cartron Bay in Sligo, was arrested in January 2000 by detectives from the Carty team, which had been set up to investigate allegations of corruption in the Donegal division.

He told the tribunal he had originally maintained his false story that Mark McConnell and Michael Peoples had threatened him with a silver bullet in July 1998 to prevent him from giving evidence in an after-hours court case involving their cousin Frank McBrearty Jnr.

“I was telling lies at the beginning and then I was fired down into the cell,” he told the tribunal. After spending the night in the cell, he said he told Detective Garda Jim Fox he wanted to make a clean confession.

“I think I might have broke down crying in the station,” he said.

Mr Conlon has told the tribunal that he was prompted to make the false allegations by Garda Sergeant John White.