Garda saw soccer star with gangland suspect, court told
They were among four witnesses called by the newspaper as part of its defence of an action by Mr Speedie, who played for clubs including Liverpool and Chelsea, over what he claims were defamatory articles written about him in 2011.
Mr Speedie claims the stories falsely meant he was engaged in criminal activity, was involved in smuggling or transportation of drugs, and had links to gangland crime.
He has sued the newspaper’s publishers, Sunday Newspapers Ltd, editor Colm McGinty, and Mick McCaffrey, who wrote the stories.
The defendants deny defamation and say the words in the articles were true.
The defence case ended yesterday and Mr Justice John Hedigan will decide whether the jury will go out to consider a verdict today. This may be postponed due to a prior commitment of one of the jurors.
Garda Colin O’Carroll told the court he saw Ritchie Thompson, who the jury has been told was a Garda suspect in a gangland investigation, in the passenger seat of a Mercedes Jeep driven by Mr Speedie in the Kevin St area of Dublin in May 2011. The garda said he saw the car again in nearby McDonagh House when the two men got out and went in different directions.
Robert Farrell, who worked in the sports department of the Sunday World until last year, said he knew Ritchie Thompson from his school days.
He saw Ritchie, along with Liam Brannigan, an associate of Thompson’s criminal brother ‘Fat’ Freddy Thompson, with Mr Speedie “sitting in one group” in a Dublin pub in December 2010.
Another garda, Owen Kirwan, said he was tasked to profile Ritchie Thompson as part of Operation Anvil, which targeted gangs.
In June 2008, he saw Mr Speedie, who he recognised, driving onto Dame St and was about to signal him to pull over when Mr Speedie did so anyway as his girlfriend was stopping off at a takeaway. During a conversation, Mr Speedie told him “if Ritchie Thompson was on fire, I wouldn’t piss on him”.
Garda Darragh Kenny told the court he stopped Mr Speedie driving a Mercedes Jeep on May 10, 2008, near McDonagh House, and while they were speaking, Ritchie Thompson’s wife passed by and said: “Dave, you are blocking traffic.”
The court heard the Sunday World now had records showing the length of a call between Mr McCaffrey and Mr Speedie, which led to the publication of the first article. While Mr Speedie said the call lasted two to three minutes, and Mr McCaffrey estimated it lasted about 11 minutes, the record showed it lasted 8 minutes and 45 seconds.
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