Disgraced garda videotaped interviews with murder suspect

A disgraced ex-garda sergeant sacked for corruption videotaped interviews with murder suspect Frank McBrearty Junior in a bid to prove he was not harmed in custody, it was revealed today.

John White took the unusual step of using his personal video camera to record interviews after Mr McBrearty alleged he had been beaten up by gardaí.

One of his former colleagues John O’Dowd, who has also been sacked from the force, told the Morris Tribunal it was initially used during his arrest.

But there is no recording of the interview when Mr McBrearty claims he was assaulted.

“Initially it was used I believe because we expected some volatility from Mr McBrearty during the arrest,” O’Dowd said.

But gardai had no trouble making the arrest and White decided to put the camera away.

“Well you see the arrest went okay, there was no problem with it. So we said we’ll probably have no problem with this guy. That was the belief,” O’Dowd said.

“Then when he went ballistic, it was meant to keep a record of it. It was only after he assaulted himself that we were really alerted to a problem with him.”

“That was the main reason why the second interview was recorded. Because perhaps he could do the same thing again in that interview.” O’Dowd denies Mr McBrearty’s claims suggesting he beat himself up while in custody by banging his head off a wall in one of the interview rooms.

“It’s very hard for the ordinary layman to believe that a man would just go up and bang his head off the wall. But he did, like. So it was better to have it on camera,” O’Dowd said.

“It’s an awful pity that the video camera recording system wasn’t in at the time.”

O’Dowd was sacked in December 2004 in the wake of a damning report from the tribunal. White followed him out of the force last December also following a damning report, despite being acquitted in court of firearms charges.

At the tribunal several gardai are currently being questioned over the arrest and detention of 12 people – many related to the McBrearty’s – all of whom have alleged abuse while in custody.