A full inquest into the death by suicide of a senior garda in Ballymun Garda station more than six years ago is expected to take place before the end of the year.
Det Supt Colm Fox, late of Malahide, Co Dublin, took his own life in his office on February 10th, 2018. He was the lead investigator into the 2016 gun attack on the Regency Hotel in north Dublin.
The attack, a major escalation in a feud between the Kinahan and Hutch organised crime groups, resulted in the death of Kinahan associate David Byrne.
A sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Tuesday heard 55 witness depositions relating to Det Supt Fox’s death had been provided to coroner Dr Myra Cullinane in a file compiled by An Garda Síochána. The inquest is expected to run over at least three days.
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Dr Cullinane said her “preliminary thoughts” on the scope of the inquest were that it would examine “the events of the day” on which Det Supt Fox died. She said these stretched from the early morning to “quite late” that night.
She said the inquest would also look at the weeks leading up to Det Supt Fox’s death and his interactions with other gardaí “in as far as they’re relevant to the hearing of the inquest”. Also of interest, the coroner said, were the subsequent investigations into his death.
Several members of Det Supt Fox’s family were present in court, including his widow, Edel. Roy O’Neill, solicitor for the Fox family, said his clients had not yet received copies of the witness statements compiled in the coroner’s file.
Dr Cullinane said her office would provide the documentation in full to the family promptly once An Garda Síochána had informed the office of any claims of privilege over the file sent by the force to her. She set a preliminary date of November 18th for the hearing of the inquest.
The court heard all other relevant investigations into Det Supt Fox’s death, including by An Garda Síochána and the Health and Safety Authority, had concluded.
Det Supt Fox’s death occurred during the Special Criminal Court trial of Patrick Hutch, who was accused of Byrne’s murder. Mr Hutch, with an address at Champion’s Avenue, Dublin 1, had pleaded not guilty to the charge. The trial collapsed in February 2019 due to the death of Det Supt Fox. Nobody has been convicted of Mr Byrne’s murder.
Ms Fox actioned High Court proceeding against the State over her husband’s death and working conditions at the time of his death. She previously stated that her husband was under pressure and not sleeping well in the period beforehand.
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