Catherine Nevin's Appeal and the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings

national | crime and justice | news report Wednesday March 24, 2010 10:10 by C Flower - Politicalworld.org

Big Questions about the Garda Role

Catherine Nevin’s appeal against her conviction for murder began in the Court of Appeal Monday. Ms Nevin was convicted in 2000 of the murder of her husband Tom at their pub, Jack White's Inn, Brittas Bay, on March 19, 1996. It was alleged that she had tried to hire three men to kill him. The person who fired the gun has never been identified or charged. The appeal will be based on evidence that prosecutors failed to disclose at her original trial that witnesses , William McClean and former provos Gerry Heapes and John Jones,were long-standing police informers . Nevin’s lawyer sought access to classified documents including security files which indicate that Mr McClean was a suspect in the Dublin/Monaghan bombings of 1974. Other new matters are being heard.

Catherine Nevin's conviction shocked many, as she was tried surrounded by a media frenzy, in which she was pilloried for looking too good. All the evidence used to convict her was provided by the three witnesses.

Catherine Nevin's appeal is entering it's third day today. On Monday Judge Adrian Hardiman refused access to a key Garda file, which contained information on the relationship of the Gardai with William McClean, the chief prosecution witness. McClean was named in the McEntee Enquiry into why the Gardai stood down the investigation of the Dubin and Monaghan Bombings almost immediately. Evidence was given that McClean knew of the Dublin bombing in advance.

There is a thread here on Politicalworld.org, open for discussion, on McClean, and the Garda role - This affair is so potentially shocking in its implications that it should be getting far, far more attention than it is.

http://www.politicalworld.org/showthread.php?p=6887#pos...t6887

"Quote:

"Nevin’s legal team is also seeking depositions in the Barron report of the inquiry into the Dublin-Monaghan bombings which they say identified Mr McClean as having stayed in the Four Courts Hotel on May 10th-16th, 1974, and as being the person who made phone calls and sent telegrams to Belfast and London.
Mr Hartnett said Mr McClean was also identified by a café owner close to the hotel as a person who said in May 1974: “In 24 hours from now, three bombs will go off and you will have something else to worry about.”
The report had said Garda inquiries to trace the man in the Four Courts Hotel led nowhere until February 2000, when he was a witness in the Nevin trial. Mr McClean was then traced and interviewed informally by a garda.
Correspondence between former chief justice Mr Justice Liam Hamilton and the Justice for the Forgotten group referred to confidential information in relation to a number of suspects in the bombings and included the name Wilkinson McClean who, it appeared, was the same person as William McClean.
Patrick MacEntee SC, who compiled a 2007 report on the 1974 bombings was unable, for legal reasons, to publish findings on this issue. However, after former taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Dáil that the Government had asked agencies in Ireland and Britain to withdraw claims of privilege, information was ultimately provided to the DPP and the Garda and material relevant to whether Mr McClean had paramilitary connections was now in the possession of the parties.
Mr Hartnett said this was material relevant to Mr McClean’s background and credibility as he had denied during cross examination that he had any paramilitary links. "

Quote:
"Then Assistant Commissioner of the Gardaí, Edmund ('Ned') Garvey was said by Fred Holroyd to have met him and an RUC Officer at Garda headquarters in 1975. Holroyd named Garvey, and another Garda (codenamed, 'the badger'), as being on the "British side". Garvey later denied that the meeting took place. However, Justice Barron found: "The visit by Holroyd to Garda Headquarters unquestionably did take place, notwithstanding former Commissioner Garvey’s inability to recall it".[56] Barron further noted: "On the Northern side, there is conflicting evidence as to how, why and by whom the visit was arranged. Regrettably, Garda investigations have failed to uncover any documentary evidence of the visit, or to identify any of the officers involved in arranging it from the Southern side."[47]
Edmund Garvey was dismissed by the incoming Fianna Fáil Government on 19 January 1978 without explanation, other than by stating that it no longer had confidence in him as Garda Commissioner. "
http://www.politicalworld.org/wiki/Commission_of_Invest..._1974

30 people were killed in the bombings, and 300 injured, many of them horribly."

http://www.politicalworld.org/showthread.php?t=444

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/black-widow-nev....html