Failure to probe corruption evidence, Omagh inquiry told

Detailed summary

A former senior police officer has said an inquiry into the Omagh bombing failed to investigate evidence of corruption among senior gardaí at the time.

A former senior police officer has said an inquiry into the Omagh bombing failed to investigate evidence of corruption among senior gardaí at the time.

Speaking during the Omagh Bombing inquiry, Norman Baxter said he was briefed about allegations made by a serving garda at the time, John White, concerning garda knowledge of dissident republican activities before the Omagh bombing.

He said he regarded those allegations as "sufficiently serious to warrant further investigation".

Twenty-nine people died, including a woman pregnant with twins, when the dissident republican car bomb exploded in the Co Tyrone town in August 1998.

Mr Baxter said he was "deeply troubled" about the Police Ombudsman's office disclosing information concerning Mr White’s allegations to the Irish Government.

Mr Baxter said he stands by his words that if those allegations were correct, he was concerned that senior garda officers implicated would have an opportunity to deflect the allegations, cause evidence to disappear or agree an alternative version of events with other witnesses.

Mr Baxter said Mr White was vulnerable as he was a serving garda at the time and that it is on record the processes that he went through in prosecution and not having sight of all the evidence.

"On a personal level, he went through very difficult times because of garda senior management trying to discredit him."

He said there was no evidence and that Mr White was not convicted of anything but "they put huge effort into discrediting him".

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