Petty criminal was garda groupie, tribunal told
A detective ignored claims made by a petty criminal because he was a garda groupie who often cried wolf, the Morris Tribunal heard today.
Sligo-based Det Gda Seamus Kearns said Bernard Conlon was in the back seat of his patrol car in July 1998 when he made allegations that he had received a bullet in the post.
Det Gda Kearns told the inquiry that he never properly investigated the claim because he didn’t believe Mr Conlon.
“He had a tendency to cry wolf and I felt he was crying wolf on this occasion,” he said.
“He was a police groupie. He wanted to get in with gardaí and impress gardaí.”
The detective said he had encountered Mr Conlon twice before in relation to a theft offence and a drugs search.
“If I had believed him, I would have investigated it fully. I thought it was lies,” he said.
Under close cross-examination, he admitted he didn’t know if a garda colleague had accompanied him on the journey.
“I wish I never heard what he said,” he finally added.
The tribunal is hearing evidence on the ’Silver Bullet’ module of the inquiry into garda corruption in Co Donegal in the 1990s.
This concerns claims that suspended Det Sgt John White told Mr Conlon to invent a story that two men called at his door and threatened him with a silver bullet if he gave evidence in an after-hours drinking case against the McBrearty family.
Det Sgt White will begin his evidence on this module in the afternoon.
