Top garda planned to arrest Bik McFarlane, court hears

The former head of Garda intelligence told a court today that he would have arrested former IRA leader Brendan 'Bik' Mc Farlane for the kidnap of supermarket executive Don Tidey if had come face to face with him.

Assistant Commissioner Dermot Jennings told the Special Criminal Court that he had received confidential information in January 1998 that Mc Farlane was travelling on a bus from Dublin to Belfast but he claimed privilege and refused to reveal the source of that information.