Police changed Shortt trial notes, court rules

A garda superintendent was one of two officers declared by a court today to have deliberately concealed and invented evidence to secure a drugs conviction against an innocent nightclub owner.

Dublin’s Court of Criminal Appeal found that Superintendent Kevin Lennon and Detective Garda Noel McMahon changed and suppressed trial notes and documents, leading to a miscarriage of justice against Donegal man Frank Shortt.

Father-of-five Mr Shortt served a three-year prison sentence after being convicted in 1995 on 13 counts of knowingly allowing the sale of drugs at the Point Inn nightclub in Inishowen in 1992.

But the conviction was overturned in November 2000, with no opposition from the Director of Public Prosecutions, leading Mr Shortt to seek the miscarriage of justice certificate he secured today.

Mr Shortt is now set to sue the state for compensation for what appeal judge Mr Justice Hardiman described as a “grave injustice”.

Speaking after the hearing the qualified accountant said: “How do I feel? Absolutely wonderful. It is good to know that justice is still alive and kicking in this country.”

He added: “Sally, my wife, and myself and my children suffered very extensively at the hands of the state over a period of eight to ten years, but it is all over now.”

During a 16-day hearing earlier this year, officer McMahon’s estranged wife, Sheenagh, claimed that her husband had admitted perjuring himself at Mr Shortt’s trial.

She said McMahon, who was based at Donegal’s Buncrana Garda Station and was the chief prosecution witness against Mr Shortt, did so to get Supt Kevin Lennon, then an inspector, promoted.

McMahon, who has been suspended as part of a internal force inquiry into police corruption in Donegal, led by assistant commissioner Kevin Carty, spearheaded an undercover operation at the club.

Among other allegations, which were supported by another woman, Adrienne McGlinchey, of Letterkenny, were that both officers planted bomb-making material to be “found” by police.

Mrs McMahon’s “truthful and very largely accurate” evidence had “very serious consequences for the reliability of the material on which Mr Shortt was convicted”, Mr Justice Hardiman said.

Sitting with two other judges, Mr Justice O’Donovan and Mr Justice O’Higgins, Mr Justice Hardiman said: “The court does not accept that Detective Garda McMahon then had a genuine, detailed and chronologically accurate memory of Mr Shortt’s presence at the drug selling transactions described.

“We are driven to the conclusion that ... Superintendent Lennon determined to strengthen the case to the extent necessary to make a conviction likely.”

He added that documents were “deliberately concealed at the trial by the two gardai named who were fully conscious of their importance to the defence”.

“In view of the above findings, the court will certify that newly discovered facts show that there has been a miscarriage of justice in the conviction of Frank Shortt on the 28th February, 1995.

“They leave the court in no doubt that a miscarriage of justice occurred.”

A police spokesman said later: “We accept the judgment of the court. We will be studying the full judgment and its implications.”

He confirmed that Supt Lennon had been transferred before today’s finding, but not suspended.

The Labour Party said the finding showed a need for urgent reform of the force while the main opposition party Fine Gael said it was “essential that the entire force does not suffer as a result”.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell said he was “clearly concerned” by the finding but was unable to comment further before examining the judgment.