A superintendent told a Garda conference they knew who killed Raphoe cattle dealer Mr Richie Barron and "just needed to prove it", two days before 12 members of the extended McBrearty family were arrested. Gerard Cunningham reports.
"We know well the two effers that did it. It's only a matters of proving it," Supt Joe Shelley told the pre-arrest conference in Letterkenny Garda Station on December 2nd, 1996.
Sgt Brendan Roache, who helped run the incident room managing the investigation, told the Morris tribunal a statement made by Mr Noel McBride, which said Mr Frank McBrearty jnr and his cousin Mr Mark McConnell were seen walking down a car-park, was "a catalyst" that led to the arrest of 12 people and was "hugely significant". In 1997 Mr McBride withdrew his statement.
Insp John McGinley told the meeting that "the statement was 100 per cent", Sgt Roache said. "It was all beginning to move on too fast, I thought."
He said he told the meeting they should wait until all the statements were completed and collated. When he expressed doubts, Supt Shelley said: "We know well the two effers that did it. It's only a matter of proving it."
Tribunal barrister Mr Paul McDermott SC asked if Mr McBride's statement provided grounds for an arrest. "There was circumstantial evidence that had to be addressed, but no proof," the sergeant said.
The sergeant agreed Supt Shelley was "the moving force" behind the arrests. "Supt Shelley was a man that liked to get things done," he said.
The district officer, Supt John Fitzgerald, relied on him.
Chief Supt William Keane, a Limerick-based garda, gave expert evidence on murder investigations.He said he had never in his career released anyone from custody after obtaining a confession. "I personally have no knowledge of that ever happening. It would be surprising."
On Tuesday, Sgt Roache told the tribunal that on the night of December 4th, 1996, two months after Mr Barron's death, he heard there was an alleged statement of confession from Mr McBrearty. Mr McBrearty was released later that night. The sergeant said the district superintendent kept this statement in his own office.
Mr McBrearty and Mr McConnell became suspects when Mr Barron's death, initially thought to be a hit and run, became a murder inquiry. Allegations of Garda corruption from the family and others led to the setting up of the tribunal.
Chief Supt Keane said every suspicious death, including hit- and-run deaths, should be treated as a potential murder scene at the outset.Another expert witness, Chief Supt Michael McCarthy said the primary responsibility of gardaí at a road traffic accident was to preserve the scene.