Garda: Disappearance of interview notes not sinister

There was no sinister motive behind the disappearance of interview notes during a botched murder investigation in Donegal, it was claimed today.

A senior garda told the Morris Tribunal he never explored the whereabouts of notes taken from prime suspect Mark McConnell as he felt they were of no importance.

Retired Detective Sergeant Jim Leheny was among a team of officers investigating the death of cattle dealer Richie Barron in Raphoe in October 1996.

Gardaí believed Mr McConnell and his cousin Frank McBrearty Jr had struck Mr Barron with a fatal blow to his head.

It was later ruled Mr Barron was the victim of a hit and run. No-one has ever been charged in relation to his death.

Mr Leheny claims that notes he took during a second interview with Mr McConnell during his 12-hour detention at Letterkenny Garda Station in December 1996 were left on a desk in the incident room to be typed.

He told the tribunal he called Garda Tina Fowley the following day for a copy of the notes and Mr McConnell’s custody record.

Gda Fowley maintains Mr Leheny only ever asked for the custody record and that she never saw any interview notes on her desk.

Mr McConnell also alleges no notes were taken during the second interview with the officer.

Tribunal Chairman, Mr Justice Frederick Morris, queried whether, if on the basis he accepted both sides of evidence, a third party could have intervened and removed the notes.

“Was there anything in the notes, that you can recollect now, that might represent an embarrassment for any third party?” asked the chairman.

“Is there anything perhaps that would be of benefit for a third party to intervene and remove the notes from exclude them from public scrutiny?”

Mr Leheny stressed that the notes were similar to the first set of interview notes, containing the same movements for the night in question and the following morning.

“There is no sinister motive in what I have stated,” he said.

“If the notes could be got it would show my evidence as stated.

“They were just basically Mark McConnell’s account of his movements reaffirmed again. That’s all it was.”

Mr Leheny said that, although the officers at Letterkenny were capable gardaí, more experienced staff should have been drafted in from other stations in the region to run the incident room during the murder investigation.

Gda Fowley also claims she saw Inspector John McGinley practising the signature of Mr McBrearty Jr while the men were in custody, with Mr McConnell maintaining he was shown a four-page false confession signed by Mr McBrearty Jr at the end of his detention.

Mr Leheny denied Insp. McGinley entered the room.

Mr McConnell claims he was pushed, shouted at and sworn at throughout questioning.

He also maintains notes from his first interview were later fabricated, that gardaí threatened to put his child in care, and that he was shown a false confession and graphic autopsy photographs.

Mr McConnell was arrested a second time for the same offence in June 1997, when he alleges gardaí tried to get him to make a false statement blaming his co-accused for the killing.

He was wrongfully arrested for a third time in October 1998 in relation to a firearms offence, when he alleges a gun was produced during an interview and his injured leg was pushed from a chair.

The gardaí, whom he has identified by name during the tribunal, deny the allegations.

The Morris Tribunal, which is investigating Garda corruption in Donegal, is currently hearing claims some 12 people – many related to the McBrearty family - were interrogated, intimidated and abused during the botched death probe.