Morris Tribunal Report Vol. 2 22/02/2017pdf2.2Mb

525 Pages·2008·2.14 MB·English

R
EPORT OF THE
T I
RIBUNAL OF NQUIRY
Set up Pursuant to the Tribunal of Inquiry
(Evidence) Acts 1921-2002
into Certain Gardaí in the Donegal Division
CHAIRMAN: Solicitor to the Tribunal: Hugh Dockry
The Honourable Mr. Justice Frederick R. Morris Registrar to the Tribunal: Brendan O’Donnell
REPORT ON THE DETENTION OF ‘SUSPECTS’ FOLLOWING THE DEATH OF
THE LATE RICHARD BARRON ON THE 14TH OF OCTOBER 1996 AND
RELATED DETENTIONS AND ISSUES
Term of Reference (b), (d) and (f) VOLUME 2
R
EPORT OF THE
T I
RIBUNAL OF NQUIRY
Set up Pursuant to the Tribunal of Inquiry
(Evidence) Acts 1921-2002
into Certain Gardaí in the Donegal Division
CHAIRMAN:
The Honourable Mr. Justice Frederick R. Morris
REPORT ON THE
DETENTION OF ‘SUSPECTS’
FOLLOWING THE DEATH OF THE LATE RICHARD BARRON
ON THE 14TH OF OCTOBER 1996
AND
RELATED DETENTIONS AND ISSUES
Term of Reference (b), (d) and (f)
VOLUME 2
Solicitor to the Tribunal: Hugh Dockry
Registrar to the Tribunal: Brendan O’Donnell
i
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V O L U M E 2
Chapter 7 The Arrests and Detentions of Frank McBrearty
Junior
7.01. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
PART I The Arrest and Detention on the 4th December 1996
– Key Questions
7.14. Summary of Mr. McBrearty Junior’s Account. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
7.28. Summary of the Garda Account. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
7.49. Summary of Events as per the Custody Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
7.51. Planning The Arrest of Mr. Frank McBrearty Junior . . . . . . . . . . . 476
7.54. The Arrest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
7.61. Bringing the McBrearty Junior Children Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
7.70. The Journey to Letterkenny Garda Station. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
7.74. Arrival at Letterkenny Garda Station. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
7.78. The First Interview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
7.82. Arrival of the Solicitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
7.89. The Interviewing Gardai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
7.92. The Garda Frame of Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
7.95. The Statement of Robert Noel McBride. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
7.100. The First Interview – Garda Evidence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
7.107. Conclusions on the First Period of Interview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499
7.113. The Second Period of Interview 12.04 Hours – 13.30 Hours. . . . . 500
7.126. Conclusions on the Second Period of Interview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
7.131. Extension of the Period of Detention. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
7.136. The First Afternoon Interview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
7.144. Conclusions on the Third Period of Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
7.145. The Fourth Period of Interview 17.01 Hours – 18.10 Hours . . . . . 510
7.158. Conclusions on the Fourth Period of Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
7.161. The 18.00 Hours Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
7.194. Conclusions on the 18.00 Hours Conference Issue. . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
7.200. The Evening Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
7.211. The Release of Frank McBrearty Junior from Detention . . . . . . . . 542
7.216. Evidence Given in Cross-Examination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
iii
7.226. Frank McBrearty Junior’s Account Given to his Solicitor . . . . . . . 549
7.232. The Second Page of the Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
7.235. Other Accounts Given by Frank McBrearty Junior . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
7.240. Interview with Mr. William Flynn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556
7.248. The Civil Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
7.250. The Garda Complaints Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
7.253. Meeting with Inspector Hugh Coll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
7.255. Interview with Mr. Brian Garvie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
7.259. Interview with Mr. Patrick Cummins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
7.263. An Assertion Made to the Tribunal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566
7.267. The Garda Response to the Allegations of
Frank McBrearty Junior.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568
7.273. The Garda Version of the Confession Interview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570
7.283. The Confession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
7.295. A Visit from the Member in charge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
7.298. Conclusion of the Interview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
7.305. The Final Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586
7.309. The Second Statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
7.313. Garda Profile of Frank McBrearty Junior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590
Subsequent Accounts Given by the Gardaí
7.316. Statements of Detective Sergeant Melody and
Detective Garda Fitzpatrick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591
7.325. Statements of Sergeants Eamon O’Grady and
Gerard McGrath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
Handwriting
7.332. The Signatures of Frank McBrearty Junior. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
7.334. Expert Evidence on the Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
7.338. The Evidence of Mr. Seán Lynch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
7.346. The Evidence of Mr. James Nash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
7.352. The Evidence of Mr. Kim Harry Hughes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
7.354. Sequence of Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611
7.363. The Evidence of Mr. Robert Radley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
7.364. Sequence of Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
7.369. Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618
7.375. Conclusions on the Handwriting Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621
iv
Conclusions in Respect of the Arrest on the 4th of December 1996
7.376. Preamble – Difficulties with Mr. McBrearty
Junior’s Testimony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
7.390. General Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627
7.390. Conclusion on the Confession Issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
7.390. The Second Statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639
7.390. Final Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639
PART II The Case of Edmond Moss
7.395. The Garda Investigation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643
7.401. Reaching a Compromise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
7.406. A Further Statement from Edmond Moss. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
7.412. The Superintendent’s Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653
7.417. A Further Statement from Edmond Moss. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654
7.424. A Further Letter from the Solicitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658
7.429. Sergeant White’s Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661
7.439. Further Letters from the Solicitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667
7.446. The Criminal Trial. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670
7.448. Conclusions on the Garda Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671
The Arrest and Detention of Mr. Frank McBrearty Junior
on the 4th of February 1997
7.452. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674
7.456. The Arrest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675
7.462. The Custody Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678
7.464. First Interview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682
7.466. Consultations with the Solicitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683
7.477. The False Allegation Repeated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
7.487. Conclusions on the Assault Allegation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
7.491. Subsequent Events on the 4th February 1997 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696
7.506. Extension of Period of Detention. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701
7.507. A Consultation with the Solicitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701
7.510. A Further Medical Examination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703
7.514. The Final Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704
7.518. Conclusions on the Detention of Frank McBrearty
Junior on the 4th of February 1997. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705
v
Chapter 8 The Arrest and Detention of Mark Quinn
8.01. Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711
8.15. Mark Quinn’s Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717
8.18 The Garda Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718
8.23. Journey to Letterkenny Garda Station. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720
8.33 At Letterkenny Garda Station . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
8.34. Mark Quinn’s Testimony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
8.35. The Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725
8.36. First Interview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728
8.41. Second Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729
8.46. Third Interview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730
8.50. Fourth Interview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
8.59. Fifth and Sixth Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736
8.65. Mark Quinn’s Complaints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
8.66. Donna Quinn’s Visit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
8.70 The Making of a Complaint. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741
8.75. Removal of Shoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743
8.80. The “Dragging” Incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744
8.87. The Post-Mortem Photographs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
8.112. Alleged Assault by Garda John O’Dowd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758
8.116. Alleged Assault by Detective Garda Keating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760
8.124. Detective Garda Padraic Scanlon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764
8.130. Release from Custody. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766
8.134. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 768
Chapter 9 The Arrest and Detention of Katrina Brolly
9.02. Issues Arising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 774
9.04. Denials and Admissions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 775
9.07. An Eventful Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 775
9.09. Letterkenny Garda Station . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776
9.12. Visit from the Gardaí . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777
9.14. The Arrest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778
9.19. Conflict Over the Arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 780
vi
9.21. The Detention of Mrs. Katrina Brolly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781
9.22. Visit from Solicitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 782
9.23. Garda Joan Gallagher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783
9.26. The Early Interviews. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783
9.28. An Unpleasant Encounter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784
9.35. Extension of Detention. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
9.39. The Contentious Interviews. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788
9.45. The Following Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 790
9.48. Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791
9.51. The Final Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 792
9.54. The Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793
9.55. The Next Day. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 794
9.58. Garda Denial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 796
9.62. A Change of Heart by Detective Garda Dooley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 798
9.64. Detective Sergeant White’s Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801
9.66. Garda Joan Gallagher’s Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 804
9.67. Evidence of Detective Garda John Dooley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808
9.73. Evidence of Detective Sergeant White. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 812
9.77. Evidence of Garda Joan Gallagher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813
9.83. The Member in Charge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 820
9.85. The Road to Damascus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 821
9.94. Omissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824
9.97. Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825
9.98. Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826
Chapter 10 The Arrest and Detention of
Frank McBrearty Senior
10.01 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831
PART I The Legality of the Arrest of Mr. Frank McBrearty Senior
10.03. The Legal Framework. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832
10.08. Background Facts Relevant to the Search of the
Dwelling House of Mr. Frank McBrearty Senior and
his Subsequent Arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833
10.13. Statements re Frank McBrearty Senior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835
vii
10.24. Meeting on the 20th of November 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838
10.31. Aileen Campbell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840
10.35. Information from Robert Noel McBride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 841
10.53. Garda Philip Collins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852
10.57. The Search Warrant and Decision to Arrest Mr. Frank
McBrearty Senior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 854
PART II
10.70. The Search of Mr. Frank McBrearty Senior’s
Premises and his Arrest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859
10.95. The Journey to the Garda Station . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868
10.101. The Detention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871
10.102. Overview of Detention of Mr. McBrearty Senior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 884
10.104. Arrival at Garda Station . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885
10.114. First Interview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888
10.136. First Period of Hospitalisation from the 5th of
December 1996 to the 12th of December 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897
10.158. Medical Condition of Mr. McBrearty Senior. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902
10.160. Mr. McBrearty Senior’s Discharge from Hospital
and Subsequent Continued Detention in
Letterkenny Garda Station . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 903
10.184. The Letter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 912
10.200. The Obtaining of Information from
Blanchardstown Hospital. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921
10.205. Second Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 924
10.225. Third Interview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 933
10.246. Sleeping Arrangements for the Night of the
12th/13th of December. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 946
10.251. The Fourth Period of Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 948
10.260. The Fifth Period of Inteview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950
10.276. Hospitalisation and Release from Custody . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 956
10.280. Subsequent Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 957
10.281. Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 957
viii
THEMORRISTRIBUNAL
Report – Chapter 7 – The Arrests and Detentions of Frank McBrearty Junior
CHAPTER 7
T A D
HE RRESTS AND ETENTIONS OF
F M B J
FANK C REARTY UNIOR
Introduction
7.01. Mr. Frank McBrearty Junior was arrested on two occasions. He was arrested on
the 4th of December 1996 at common law on suspicion of having murdered
Richard Barron on the 14th of October 1996. This is dealt with in Part I. He was
subsequently arrested on the 4th of February 1997 on suspicion of having
committed an offence contrary to section 18 of the Offences Against the Person
Act, 1861, in particular of having assaulted Mr. Edmond Moss on the 30th of
December 1996. In addition, the Tribunal carried out a more extensive inquiry
into the events surrounding the investigation of the alleged assault on Edmond
Moss and the subsequent prosecution of Frank McBrearty Junior in respect of
that matter, of which he was ultimately acquitted. The Tribunal was required
under Term of Reference (f) to enquire into:
The circumstances surrounding the arrest and detention of Frank
McBrearty Junior on the 4th of February 1997 and his subsequent
prosecution in the Circuit Criminal Court in relation to an alleged assault
in December, 1996 on Edward [sic] Moss with particular reference to the
Garda investigation and the management of both the investigation and
the role of the Gardaí in the subsequent prosecution.
This is dealt with in Part II. The Tribunal was required to carry out an inquiry into
issues arising in connection with these arrests. This chapter sets out the issues
that arose in connection with each arrest and gives the conclusions reached by
the Tribunal in respect of those issues. The Tribunal will deal with each of the
arrests in turn.
PART I
The Arrest and Detention on the 4th of December 1996 –
Key Questions
7.02. In the course of Mr. Frank McBrearty Junior’s detention on the 4th of December
1996, it is alleged that he made a statement of admission to Detective Sergeant
John Melody and Detective Garda John Fitzpatrick which he signed at 20.25
hours. A further shorter statement was allegedly made to Sergeants Gerard
McGrath and Eamon O’Grady and was also allegedly signed by him. The main
statement in issue is as follows:
455