Gardai held back money owned by two protected witnesses because they believed the men were "absolutely terrified" and might try to flee the country, the Veronica Guerin murder trial has been told. Det Insp Thomas O'Loughlin said that self-confessed criminals Charles Bowden and Russell Warren were extremely afraid, and he feared they might try to flee before giving evidence against murder suspect Mr John Gilligan and other alleged criminal associates.
He said he returned thousands of pounds to Charles Bowden after his house was petrol-bombed but denied that he was trying to show Bowden that gardai were "his friends".
Under cross-examination by Mr Michael O'Higgins SC, Det Insp O'Loughlin denied suggestions that gardai had returned the money to Warren and Bowden in return for their evidence.
He added that Russell Warren had a domestic cleaning business and Charles Bowden owned a hairdresser's and the money seized could have come from these sources. Mr O'Higgins suggested that Det Insp O'Loughlin was "behind the times" and that Charles Bowden had already confessed that his hairdressing business was "nothing more than a front" for drug dealing.
Det Insp O'Loughlin said that might have been the case, but the hairdressing business was still making a legitimate profit.
The exhibits officer in the case, Det Garda Robert O'Reilly, earlier told the court that gardai had returned £1,920 to Russell Warren in December 1996 and made further repayments of £1,000 in April 1997 and £4,000 in July of the same year.
He said gardai had also repaid nearly £7,000 to Charles Bowden in three instalments between 1996 and 1997. He denied suggestions by Mr O'Higgins that he had "executive control" over the money and said he consulted Insp O'Loughlin before handing it over to a garda for transmission to Warren and Bowden.
Asked about a raid on the home of Russell Warren's parents, he said the gardai involved had told him that £66,605 was found in the possession of Patrick and Yvette Warren. Gardai also gave him a handwritten note saying "66,000", which was found with the money. He said he later handed the note back to the Warren family before discovering that there was a £3,000 discrepancy in the sum counted by the gardai and the amount counted by forensics experts.
"In hindsight, I shouldn't have handed back the note," Det Garda O'Reilly told the court. "But I was swamped with exhibits at the time. I handed it back to get some breathing space."
Det Garda O'Reilly said there was "organised chaos" in the Veronica Guerin murder investigation at the time.
It was the 31st day of the trial of Mr John Gilligan (48), with addresses at Corduff Avenue, Blanchardstown, Dublin; Jessbrook Equestrian Centre, Mucklon, Enfield, Co Kildare; and HM Prison Belmarsh, London, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Sunday Independent crime reporter Veronica Guerin (37) at Naas Road, Clondalkin, Dublin, on June 26th, 1996.
Mr Gilligan also denies 15 other counts alleging the importation of cannabis, and firearms and ammunition offences.
The prosecution has claimed that Mr Gilligan was "in control and command" of a criminal gang that imported and distributed large amounts of cannabis and that he organised the murder of Ms Guerin.
The trial continues on Tuesday.