'Whistleblower' threatened over forged notes find, tirbunal told

A garda broke down today revealing she was threatened after discovering an officer’s interview notes were forged and altered on the original record during a murder probe.

Gda Tina Fowley said it was in a background of fear and reprisal that she attempted to tell the truth and wrote a report on the discovery of discrepancies in September 1997 in the notes of interview of Roisin McConnell, who was questioned over the death of cattle dealer Richie Barron in 1996.

Gda Fowley told the Morris Tribunal she submitted a confidential report to Chief Supt Denis Fitzpatrick in Letterkenny in relation to a number of matters surrounding the altered interview notes.

The garda said she went ahead and drew up the report after the Chief Supt Fitzpatrick paid a visit to her home.

“That report was written against a background of fear for having come forward and telling the truth,” she said.

Gda Fowley said Chief Supt Fitzpatrick, now retired, interviewed her for around an hour at her home over the matter.

“He (Chief Supt Fitzpatrick) received a full account from me at that stage and made certain comments that left me in a very difficult situation in relation to putting the matter on paper. He gave me a couple of hours to think things over about what I was going to say about John McGinley, and to come to his office and let him know. He gave me a clear indication,” she said, as chairman Justice Frederick Morris interjected to ask if she needed a break as she fought back tears.

Continuing with her evidence, Gda Fowley said: “That he didn’t want to see me go down with (Supt) Kevin Lennon because he was gone bye bye out of the job.

“There was an inherent threat in the conversation,” she said, adding: “He really didn’t want this matter to come to a head.”

She added: “It was me who proffered the writing of the report, because I felt the matter was not going to be dealt with properly by him. In essence, a report is a report outlining the circumstances of the incident and that is what I proffered to him against the background of fear and reprisal which subsequently followed.”

Under cross-examination by a solicitor for Gda John Harkin, who queried why all the facts in relation to the discrepancies in the notes were not contained in the report, Gda Fowley said she was writing the report against a background of fear.

“I feel I did my duty by submitting that report against the implied threats from my Chief Superintendent,” she said.

Supt John McGinley, who recently retired, admitted to the tribunal he had asked another officer to forge garda files of a woman being interviewed in relation to the death of Mr Barron.

The inspector interrogated the mother-of-two, who was wrongly arrested on December 4, 1996, in connection with Mr Barron’s death.

Mr McGinley said he asked Sgt Brian McEntee to approach Det Gda John Harkin, who was responsible for taking down the notes during the interview, to amend them to exclude the two questions he asked in relation to whether she was a good woman, and a religious woman.

Ms Fowley said she discovered the discrepancies when she was proof reading the interview notes as a typed copy of the original notes had been left in the system.