Suspended garda cleared of planting shotgun at Traveller camp

A suspended detective Garda sergeant, who is credited with thwarting a string of Real IRA terror attacks, was today cleared of planting a shotgun at a traveller encampment in Donegal in a bid to frame a group of men for murder.

John White, from Ballybofey, was charged with illegal possession of a double barrelled sawn-off shotgun at the site near the village of Burnfoot in May 1998.

His accomplice in the alleged incident gave sworn evidence at Letterkenny District Court over the last four weeks that Mr White hid the weapon.

The 51-year-old has spent the last five years trying to clear his name.

The not guilty verdict delivered by a jury of six men and six women was greeted by rounds of applause from his supporters, friends and family in the public gallery, many of whom burst into tears.

Outside the court Mr White said he had borne the brunt of an ineffectual Garda investigation concocted by officers trying to destroy his credibility.

“I’d like to say to the people of Ireland I’m innocent,” he said.

“It took a month, practically a month here, to present this case, it took the jury, and I thank them very much, less than an hour to suss it out because there was no evidence.

“There was no evidence from the start, not a bit. There was a story, a story from a man who got immunity.”

Mr White also said he was suspicious that his one-time colleague Detective Garda Kilcoyne was free from prosecution after giving a sworn statement on the Burnfoot incident.

“The case was brought against me to destroy my credibility,” Mr White went on.

It is the second time the officer, once viewed as a rising star in the force, has been tried and acquitted.

In January 2005 he was found not guilty on six counts of making false statements and attempting to pervert the course of justice on direction of a trial judge.

Mr White insists he has been the subject of a vendetta orchestrated by former colleagues and senior officers in the force.

He claims allegations he made to an internal Garda investigative team in 1998, headed by Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty that officers had concocted a murder confession are the basis of this.

Mr White also claims information he had about a planned Real IRA terror attack in the summer of 1998 was not acted on.

Taking the stand during his latest trial he reiterated the allegation claiming that Assistant Commissioner Dermot Jennings said top brass in the force had decided to let one through.

Asst Com. Jennings has denied this labelling it an absolute lie.