Sergeant alleges garda 'interference' in murder probe

A man arrested in connection with the murder of a Raphoe cattle dealer was taken to a remote station to ensure senior gardai involved in the case could not “interfere” with him, it was claimed today.

Sgt Martin Moylan told the Morris Tribunal that when William Doherty was arrested he was taken to Milford station for questioning.

“The intention was to take it away from Letterkenny, so there would be no interference by Garda O’Dowd, Det Sgt White, or Supt Lennon,” he said.

Doherty was arrested in September 1997 after another local man, Noel McBride, claimed he had made false statements concerning the death of Richie Barron.

“O’Dowd was connected to McBride and Doherty and Supt Lennon,” added Sgt Moylan.

“I felt it was my duty to do whatever had to be done. The consequences were a serious issue for members of the force, particularly Garda O’Dowd.”

The tribunal was told that when he was arrested Doherty had a Garda notebook in his possession.

Sgt Moylan admitted he was surprised. “It was a very significant and important matter,” he said.

“It reinforced the connection between William Doherty and Garda O’Dowd.”

Doherty later admitted in evidence that he had stolen the notebook.

Garda John O’Dowd, Det Sgt John White and Supt Kevin Lennon were central figures in the murder investigation.

McBride made statements which incriminated members of the extended McBrearty family, which he claimed were made at the behest of O’Dowd and Doherty. The statements were later retracted.

Sgt Moylan said he was sceptical about McBride’s claims because having checked through some 500 statements, no-one, not even his brother had seen him in Raphoe that night.

So Sgt Moylan went along with Det Sgt Hugh Smith to McBride’s house to validate the evidence.

They asked him about a bike which McBride claimed had been given to him by the McBrearty family to buy his silence.

Later McBride admitted that he had bought the bike for himself with his dole money.

At the end of the day Justice Frederick Morris interrupted Sgt Moylan’s evidence, expressing frustration at his answers.

“I have sat here for the last three days listening to your evidence and I can’t escape from the feeling that you have an agenda of what you are going to tell us, particularly what you are not going to tell us,” he said.

“All I want you to do is tell us what we are asking you about.”

Earlier, young Donegal woman Amanda Sloyan told the tribunal that on the night Richie Barron died she had been driving back into Raphoe from Letterkenny with her boyfriend William Ayton.

She said the car had run out of petrol and, having taken a lift from a friend, they had returned to the car and towed it back.

However, her evidence contradicted other accounts of the night.

Peter Charlton SC said: “You and William Ayton are the only two people who are saying you towed a car that night. Nobody saw you.”

Asked whether she was surprised when Ayton was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving causing the death of Richie Barron, she replied: “I am 100% sure we were not on that road that night.”

The tribunal also heard that William Ayton had used a false name to obtain a new driving license and hire a car when the Carty team had been investigating the entire affair.

Mr Charlton said: “It all seems ultra suspicious doesn’t it?”

“Can you think of any reason why he was going around with an assumed name?”

But Ms Sloyan replied simply: “No.”

The inquiry was set up to look into the Garda murder investigation following Mr Barron’s death on October 14, 1996 in an apparent hit-and-run in Raphoe, Co Donegal.

An investigation, headed by the Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty, was then launched in 1999 after the McBrearty family alleged they had been harassed by local gardaí during the investigation.