A senior-ranking garda believed he made a “major error” while leading the investigation into a gangland shooting at the Regency Hotel in north Dublin over eight years ago, an inquest has heard.
In a letter written shortly before his death by suicide at Ballymun Garda station on February 10th, 2018, Det Supt Colm Fox referred to “an act of omission” made under “immense pressure” in February 2016 relating to the investigation of suspect Patrick Hutch. “I did not follow up and issue the necessary tasks around the recognition of suspect Patrick Hutch,” he wrote.
Mr Hutch, from Champion’s Avenue, Dublin 1, was on trial at the Special Criminal Court for the murder of Kinahan associate David Byrne on February 5th, 2016, at the time of Fox’s death. The trial subsequently collapsed.
A sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court heard on Tuesday that in the letter, Fox wrote that he had made a “major error”, one for which he was solely to blame.
“My mistake may not be seen by some as a mistake, and I could not live with that,” he wrote. “I cannot change things now, and as the SIO [senior investigating officer] I take full responsibility.”
“I have been under serious stress for the past week, which has led to today’s event, for which I am truly sorry,” he wrote.
Fox apologised to the family of the Regency Hotel shooting victim in the letter. “This may affect the outcome of the trial, and I apologise to everyone, particularly the Byrne family.”
Supt Brian Daly, to whom the letter was addressed, told the court that he still “to this day” does not understand what Fox was referring to in his “very cryptic” letter. Fox’s family thanked the superintendent for reading the letter.
Supt Daly described his former colleague as a “workaholic” and “perfectionist”, a model member of An Garda Síochána.
Supt Daly said that, in a conversation a day before his death, Fox said to him: “I’m under a bit of pressure, but don’t tell anyone.”
After this comment, Fox spoke to Supt Daly at length about his childhood, his time in the scouts, his early days in the force, and his wife and children. “He was spilling out to me, for that hour ... it was kind of strange,” Supt Daly said.
The court also heard evidence that Fox was the senior investigating officer in 18 serious crime cases at the time of his death.
Det Gda Paul Darley told the court Fox “appeared fed up” and “down” at times on the date of his death.
He said that Fox had been assigned to lead investigations into a double murder in Finglas in August 2017, and a shooting incident involving garda members in Ballymun in December 2017. Det Gda Darley described the cases as “incredibly stressful investigations”.
Investigations kept landing on Fox’s lap, and “there was no one else to delegate to”, Det Gda Darley said. Supt Daly told the court there were “very few” senior investigating officers in the Dublin Metropolitan Region division at the time, partly due to retirements.
In the lead up to the Regency Hotel trial, “you could see that the colour was gone” from Fox’s face, Det Gda Darley said, and as the weeks went on, he grew more “dishevelled”.
Garda Keith Taylor said on the day of Fox’s death, the detective spoke to him about “not looking forward” to evidence resuming at the Regency Hotel trial, stating: “You try to do things right, but mistakes are made.”
In the same conversation, he spoke of the defence’s use of words like “collaboration” and “collusion” in the trial, and spoke in general about how difficult it is to get a conviction in the Irish courts.
Det Gda Stephen Enright gave evidence of discovering Fox deceased in the en suite bathroom in his office. The detective was discovered with a Smith and Wesson revolver.
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