Garda ‘pleaded’ with taxi driver gunman

A female garda sergeant fell on the roadway as she and her colleague ran from crazed gunman Anthony McMahon on Monday night near Newport, Co Tipperary.

It emerged last night that Sergeant Debra Marsh tripped and fell just yards from Mr McMahon’s van moments after she fired pepper-spray at Mr McMahon and Garda Gerry Brazil managed to wrestle a double barreled shotgun from him.

McMahon, a taxi driver, had discharged two shots from the same weapon moments earlier as he was sitting in the driver’s seat of the van.