A Sligo man who made false statements to gardai has become the first person to be convicted of a criminal offence in connection with the McBrearty affair.
At Sligo Circuit Court yesterday, Bernard Conlon (45), of Cartron Bay, Sligo was found guilty on three counts of making false statements to gardai on three different dates in 1998.
Over the seven-day trial, the court heard how Conlon agreed to take part in a "sinister plot", in which two gardai, whose names cannot be published, were "the leaders and prime movers".
He made statements alleging that two men, a nephew of Raphoe publican Mr Frank McBrearty and an employee of the family, had called to his home and threatened his life with a silver bullet. Mr Conlon had earlier agreed with a garda to give evidence against the McBreartys in a number of licensing prosecutions.
This garda, the court was told, believed members of the McBrearty family had killed Raphoe man Richie Barron in October 1996 and wanted them "off the streets".
In a statement made to gardai in Febuary 2000, Conlon admitted the allegations against the men were false. He also detailed how he had received brown envelopes containing hundreds of pounds in cash as well as more than £2,000 in cheques for expenses incurred while attending licensing prosecutions against the McBreartys. Fake employment certificates, which had been forged by gardai for the purpose of getting these expenses, were produced in court.
Counsel for Conlon argued that he was suffering from a mild mental handicap with an IQ in the 50s and that he was "used and abused" by the two gardai.
The jury of seven women and five men took just over two hours to find Conlon guilty on all three counts. Earlier Judge Carroll Moran had told them they might think it "reprehensible" the way two gardai had used a gullible man but they had to focus on the facts of the case.
"You may think that they used this person as a pawn in other battles, that they played on his imagination and illusions by calling him Det Garda Conlon and so on, to the extent that some witnesses got the impression that his house was more like a Garda Station than a residence," Judge Moran said.
He added however that this did not necessarily excuse what he did and it came back to three issues of fact – if Bernard Conlon had made the statements, if the statements were false and if Mr Conlon knew they were false.
Judge Moran said the jury might also think it was "grossly unfair" that "the weakest link was the one to be picked on and prosecuted first – or maybe at all – and that appears to be the case. You may have views and I may have views on that, however we have to judge the case as it is before us," Judge Moran said.
It was not a trial of any members of the Garda Siochana, nor an inquiry into their conduct, nor an inquiry into alleged harassment of the McBreartys. Nor was it an inquiry into "the unfortunate death of Richie Barron".
After an application by defence counsel, sentencing was deferred until June 5th. Lawyers representing Conlon and members of the McBrearty family declined to comment afterwards.