Dead garda's family hears his name cleared
A dead garda who was wrongly blamed for forged witness expenses today had his reputation cleared in front of his family.
The Morris Tribunal heard the allegations were made two years after Garda John Keogh died of a massive heart attack in 2000.
His widow, Kathleen Keogh, said they had had a devastating effect on her family.
“I feel that because my husband is dead, he is being used in the scheme of things to cover up for the wrongdoing of members of the Garda Siochana,” said Kathleen Keogh.
“This is very difficult for me. I didn’t think five years after my husband died that I’d be sitting here but that’s why I’m here. John was a very honest man.”
After her appearance in the witness box, a handwriting expert told the tribunal that the handwriting on the forged witness expenses did not match the handwriting of John Keogh.
However, four of the signatures on the forms, purporting to be from an employer called Ben Maguire, did match the handwriting of retired Sligo Garda John Nicholson, who made the allegations against Garda Keogh.
Ms Keogh said she had been totally devastated when Mr Nicholson told her of the allegations her was making against her husband in 2002.
“He said ‘I’ve been told by my legal team there are others involved and if I don’t name them, I’ll go down’.”
The forged witness expenses were given to Bernard Conlon, from Carton Bay in Sligo, for his participation in liquor licencing prosecutions against the McBrearty family and allowed him to claim money even though he was not working.
Ms Keogh told the tribunal she found it difficult to believe her husband would have any involvement because he was a very honest man who would question his children if 20p went missing.
“I don’t believe he ever did anyone a bad turn. If he couldn’t do anyone a good turn, he certainly didn’t do them a bad turn,” she said.
“I want his name cleared and that we his family can leave him to rest in peace. I would also like those people who had been involved to admit to whatever and that justice will prevail.”
She called round to Garda Nicholson’s house in 2002 with one of her daughters and they told him they were worried about the repercussions for their family.
He told them it wouldn’t make any difference and added that the expenses claim was ‘only a bloody receipt’ and that there’d be ‘no bloody implications’.
Handwriting expert James Nash said he had examined the forged witness expenses and compared them to examples of Garda Keogh’s handwriting.
“In my opinion, there’s insufficient handwriting to connect him with this and he’s unlikely to have been involved,” he said.
Mr Nash, a former senior member of the Garda Technical Bureau, said four of the signatures on the forms, purporting to be from a Sligo landlord Ben Maguire, had been forged by Garda John Nicholson.
Mr Nichoson was convicted of passing three forged documents on behalf of Bernard Conlon at Riverstown court in Sligo in 2002 but had always denied forging them.
The tribunal heard that the retired garda, who has spent two months this year in a psychiatric hospital in Dublin, is currently receiving medication and is unable to testify in public.
Judge Frederick Morris is planning to visit him at a neutral venue next week to take evidence from him on commission.
