Senior garda 'ridiculed' over murder weapon suggestion

Gardaí probing the death of cattle dealer Richie Barron nicknamed a senior officer ‘Captain Hook’ after he found a possible murder weapon, it was claimed today.

Officers on the investigation team laughed and moaned when Detective Sergeant Sylvie Henry suggested they look into whether a bill hook was used to kill Mr Barron.

Garda Tina Fowley, suspended from the force since 2002, told the Morris Tribunal some detectives were focused purely on linking the McBrearty family to the fatal hit-and-run death in Raphoe. And she said gardai rejected offers of the new line of inquiry.

Paul ‘Gazza’ Gallagher, a petty criminal and one time suspect in the investigation, had told Det Sgt Henry he was asked to get rid of a bill hook by Frank McBrearty Junior.

Gazza Gallagher, a 29-year-old from Letterkenny, had earlier stolen the hook. Officers dismissed out of hand suggestions that he was involved.

“If something came up in relation to Paul Gallagher there would almost be, not quite a laugh, but a snigger,” Garda Fowley said.

She also alleged officers in the Donegal division bullied and harassed her, forcing her to take two years sick leave in the late 1990s.

The inquiry was halted at one point after Garda Fowley, who was visibly shaking whilst on the stand, burst into tears. She was recalling dealings with a senior officer but the Tribunal was not told what caused her distress.

Det Sgt Henry played a key role in the investigations of Mr Barron’s death.

Garda Fowley told the inquiry there would be a “collective groan” when Gazza’s name was mentioned and that she did not approve of the name Captain Hook.

“The investigation into Paul Gallagher was not being taken as seriously by management of the investigation as it was by Sergeant Henry,” Garda Fowley said.

“But the pursuit of Paul Gallagher was thorough as a result of Detective Sergeant Henry’s impetus,” Garda Fowley said.

“It was treated in a ‘here we go again’ fashion. Det Sgt Henry had this issue between his teeth and was pursuing it. They (other officers) were focused on Mark McConnell and Frank McBrearty Junior and the extended McBrearty family.”

She added: “Superintendent (Joe) Shelley christened that term, he came up with the name.”

During hearings in July 2004 Gazza Gallagher admitted telling gardai a “pack of lies” to avoid being implicated in Mr Barron’s death.

He claimed the only way to prove his innocence was to lie and implicate Mr McBrearty Junior.

The Morris Tribunal is examining allegations of corruption amongst the Garda in Donegal during the 1990s. The current module, due to finish at around Christmas time, is looking into the death of Mr Barron in an apparent hit-and-run accident in Raphoe in October 1996.