Claims by estranged wife dismissed as 'monstrous'

A detective garda accused of planning hoax explosives finds will tell the Morris tribunal that the allegations made by his estranged wife were based on a mixture of "rumour, confusion and supposition".

Ms Sheenagh McMahon had alleged that Det Garda Noel McMahon and Supt Kevin Lennon had planned these hoax finds and that Ms Adrienne McGlinchey, a Garda informer, had also been involved.

Det Garda McMahon's counsel, Mr Brian Murphy, told the tribunal his client would say the "monstrous allegations" were based on stories Ms McMahon had heard, snatches of conversations and rumours. He would say her judgment was coloured because of her ill-feeling for her estranged husband and Supt Lennon.

On Monday Supt Tom Long told the tribunal that Ms McMahon had seen Det Garda McMahon, Supt Lennon and Ms McGlinchey "mixing stuff" for explosives at her family home in Porthaw in Donegal.

However, this evidence was contradicted by counsel for Ms McMahon, Ms McGlinchey and Det Garda McMahon yesterday. Mr Cormac Corrigan SC, for Ms McMahon, said she would tell the tribunal she had never said she saw the trio using the family home to mix materials.

Neither would she say she knew they had been moving explosives around Donegal and Northern Ireland. She would say she had merely been told this by other people, probably gardaí.

Ms McMahon would say she asked Det Garda McMahon about this activity and he had not confirmed or denied it but explained it by saying what he was doing was saving lives, Mr Corrigan said.

Supt Long had told the tribunal that Ms McMahon told him she was in fear of her life and had been told that a well-known republican figure would deal with her.

However, Ms McMahon's counsel said she would tell the tribunal that it was Ms McGlinchey who had been threatened.

Supt Long said it was his recollection that Ms McMahon was very much afraid and had told him about these threats.

He also said Ms McMahon had told him her husband had pointed a gun at her before she got a protection order against him. Ms McMahon also told him that a sergeant had found three detonators in a shed adjacent to her home.

Sgt Michael Brennan had been staying with the McMahon family when he discovered the detonators and took possession of them, Supt Long said. The tribunal also saw two metal objects which Ms McMahon had removed from the home and placed in a bank for safe keeping. They were sent to the Garda Technical Bureau in Dublin for examination.