Morris tribunal: A retired Donegal detective has told the tribunal that there was no plan or conspiracy to deny that postmortem photographs of cattle dealer Richie Barron were shown to suspects arrested for his murder in December 1996.
The tribunal has determined that the cattle dealer died in a hit-and-run collision, and that 12 people arrested in December 1996 were wrongly arrested.
Pat Tague, a retired detective garda, told the tribunal there was no conspiracy to deny that postmortem photographs were shown to suspects as a tactic during questioning, or that he used abusive language with Mark McConnell.
He said the photographs were kept in the incident room, and he was never in that room until after Mr McConnell was released, when a conference was held.
Tribunal senior counsel Peter Charleton said that all gardaí had initially denied any suspects were shown the photographs, but since the tribunal began, four officers had come forward and admitted photographs were shown to other suspects, including Mr McConnell's wife, Róisín.
"What I can say is I did not show them the photos. I can definitely say that," Mr Tague said.
Letterkenny solicitor Cathal Quinn told the inquiry he visited Mark McConnell in Letterkenny Garda station on June 25th, 1997, when he was rearrested.
The solicitor said Mr McConnell told him gardaí said to him that a relative of the late Richie Barron "will be coming to get you and there will be no Garda protection". Mr McConnell also said gardaí had told him they "would be willing to do a deal".
