A jury at Sligo Circuit Court has found Bernard Conlon guilty on all three counts of making false statements to Gardaí. It had been alleged that Conlon claimed two men, connected to the McBrearty family, threatened to kill him with a silver bullet.
The trial of Bernard Conlon lasted over three days. His defence claimed he was a mentally retarded man who was used as a pawn in the evil plot of a certain Garda against the McBrearty family of Raphoe.
Forty-five-year-old Mr Conlon believed he was helping him to investigate the death of Richie Barron. The Garda was convinced the McBreartys were involved and was driven to manic proportions to bring them to justice.
The Garda, who cannot be named, referred to him as Detective Sergeant Conlon. On a number of occasions, he gave him cash in brown envelopes to help implicate the family.
The first was for a licensing laws offence, and he was later paid to claim that Frank McBrearty's nephew, Mark McConnell, and his employee, Michael Peoples, threatened to kill him with a silver bullet.
It was for making those false allegations to Gardaí in Sligo that Mr Conlon was on trial and, in his address to the jury, Judge Carroll Moran said they must focus on the facts: Did Mr Conlon make the statements? Were they false? Did he know they were false?
While the actions of certain Gardaí may have been reprehensible, the Judge said, no Garda was on trial and this was not an inquiry into the alleged harassment of the McBrearty family. This was the first criminal trial connected to the McBrearty affair. Sentencing has been deferred until 5 June.
