Gardai spotted the name and telephone number of a man they allege Ms Catherine Nevin solicited to murder her husband in an address book in her sitting-room in April 1996, weeks after the murder, a jury heard yesterday. The Central Criminal Court trial of Ms Nevin heard that when a detective garda was shown the address book a month later, in May 1996, the name "Gerry Heapes" had been scribbled out on the front and back of the page it was written on.
It also heard a defence claim that Ms Nevin's reluctance to make a statement to Arklow gardai arose from "bad blood" between both Mr Tom Nevin and Ms Nevin and the station arising out of allegations made by a Jack White's Inn staff member that she had been sexually molested by a garda from the station.
Ms Nevin (48) has denied the murder of her husband Mr Tom Nevin (54), on March 19th, 1996, in their home at Jack White's Inn, Ballinapark, near Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow. She has also pleaded not guilty to charges that she solicited Mr John Jones, Mr Gerry Heapes and Mr William McClean to murder her husband.
In direct evidence, Det Garda Joe Collins, of Arklow Garda station, told Mr Peter Charleton SC, prosecuting, that on April 12th, 1996, he went to Jack White's Inn and spoke to Ms Nevin in her sitting-room.
Ms Nevin left the room for a moment and his colleague, Det Sgt Fergus O'Brien, picked up a newspaper. Underneath it was a wine-coloured diary or address book. It was open and Det Sgt O'Brien drew his attention to the name "Gerry Heapes" and a telephone number on the page.
Det Garda Collins said he was again shown the address book on May 18th, 1996, by a colleague. "On examining the book I saw where the name Gerry Heapes had been written had been scribbled out, front and back, but I could still make out the name," he said. He saw Ms Nevin consult the book several times.
Ms Nevin's barrister, Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, has already told the jury that his instructions are that the address book was not Ms Nevin's but the phone book of the premises.
The evidence came as Det Garda Collins continued to recall his dealings with Ms Nevin. He said that in a witness statement on March 20th, she said her husband had always lodged the pub takings in the AIB branch in Wicklow. She said if no lodgement was made on the Friday, then a total of £16,550 was taken by his killers.
In her statement, Ms Nevin also said: "I am aware that Tom has mentioned that he was followed on Monday nights on the way back from the flats in Dublin." She asked him about this and he said he was followed "four nights out of seven". He believed this was something to do with the sacking of a chef who had worked in the pub. She also told gardai there was trouble with a tenant of their flats in Rialto, with whom her husband had "a big problem". In her statement, she spoke of a series of unexplained events at the pub. She said that one Thursday night before Christmas 1995, she was awoken by an intruder alarm at 4 a.m. She got up and reset it but saw that it was being repeatedly reactivated from the conservatory. She got her shotgun and stood on a chair, pointing it out the conservatory window, shouting: "I have a gun". She said she saw "three heads leaving in a chocolate-coloured Renault car". She did not report the incident to the gardai.
She went on to tell gardai of a man who came to the pub on February 25th, 1996, seeking accommodation. He returned that Sunday night with a woman, and stayed again on March 10th, over a week before the murder.
She was concerned because the man asked if Tom still went to Dublin on Mondays.
She said that about two weeks before the murder, two men walked into the pub and when queried said they were "looking for the john". They returned on another day and did this again.
Det Garda Collins told the court that in December 1996, he went to Jack White's Inn and spoke to Ms Nevin. He cautioned her and informed her that two men had alleged she had solicited them to murder her husband. Ms Nevin wrote the name and telephone number of her solicitor down. She handed it to him and said: "See my solicitor."
Cross-examining Det Garda Collins on remarks made on Monday by Ms Nevin about Arklow Garda station, Mr Patrick MacEntee SC asked him if he knew why she was at first reluctant to make a statement. "She said she didn't want to make a statement to have it doctored in Arklow Garda station," Det Garda Collins replied. Mr MacEntee said he must know the remark referred to difficulties which had arisen when a woman who worked in Jack White's Inn complained she had been "interfered with sexually by a member of the Garda Siochana".
Garda Collins said he was aware that two gardai had been suspended for the period of the investigation.
Mr MacEntee said the allegation had been the subject of litigation and that Mr and Ms Nev in had made statements in sup port of the young woman. After that, gardai withdrew their custom from the pub "en masse, except for some senior gardai", Mr MacEntee said. "If Mrs Nevin thought she had a problem with gardai, she was mistaken," Det Garda Collins said.
The trial continues today.