Tribunal finds garda planted hoax device on mast

Ardara module:Det Sgt John White planted a hoax explosive device on a television mast at Ardara, Co Donegal in order to falsely arrest three local men, the tribunal found.

Local people began protesting against the eight-foot mast at the then Telecom Éireann site on the mountainside in southwest Donegal in 1995 when a new operator, Cable Management Ltd, acquired the transmission licence.

Previously there was a community network that transmitted the television signal from house to house for free. However, this was not legal at the time.

The protests were peaceful but on November 7th 1996 an arson attack on a container of equipment at the site caused £50,000 (€63,000) worth of damage. Supt Denis Cullinane called in Sgt White from a neighbouring district to investigate the crime.

However, in the absence of Sgt White, two other gardaí, Sgt Seán McKenna and Garda Patrick O'Donnell obtained warrants under the Criminal Damage Act to search the properties of local men Hugh Diver, the late Anthony Diver and Bernard Shovlin. These warrants were never executed.

The tribunal determined that Sgt White had wanted the stronger powers of the Offences Against the State Act used.

Shortly afterwards, on November 19th, the cable company went to replace the equipment destroyed in the arson attack and a suspect device was found attached to the mast. The device was found to be a hoax. Ballistics experts have told the tribunal that it was little more than a large firework made up of banger-type firecrackers.

Det Sgt White told Supt Cullinane that he tested the powder found in the device and that it ignited.

On November 21st the three local men were subsequently arrested under the Offences against the State Act and released the following day, all without charge.

The tribunal found that Sgt White was determined that Anthony and Hugh Diver and Bernard Shovlin would be arrested and questioned with a view to "uncovering their supposed guilt" in respect of the arson attack. It found that Sgt White had not preserved the scene of the discovery of the device and the incident was not properly investigated independently of the arson investigation.

Det Sgt White's account of his investigation into the arson attack was "so riddled with inconsistencies that the tribunal cannot accept his version of events".

The device was "caused to be put on the mast by Sgt White for the purpose of effecting arrests under section 340 of the Offences against the State Act, 1939 in respect of the earlier arson attack. Either this was done by him or on his behalf," the report concluded.

Module recommendations

• Any member of the force should be able to ring Garda headquarters and speak in confidence to a designated officer about any concerns of misconduct within the organisation. The structure for this service should be established as a matter of urgency.

• No one should serve as a superintendent without the training, expertise and commitment to duty and the front-line experience to make judgments relating to criminal investigation. No one of this rank should be "overawed" by any member serving under them.

• Gardaí should be involved in continuous professional studies and should be periodically transferred to specialist units, outside the context of promotion.

• Noting the recent resignation of a number of gardaí in Donegal, the tribunal said it would be "highly undesirable" if a situation continued where inexperienced members were staffing the Garda stations and he asked the Garda Commissioner to ensure this was not the case.