GARDA COULD HAVE PROTECTED TOM OLIVER
An internal garda review into the murder of farmer Tom Oliver, who was abducted, tortured and murdered by the IRA in July 1991, has uncovered failings in the original police investigation.
Oliver’s death, one of the most controversial murders of the Troubles, was examined by the force’s cold case unit, a branch of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
The review established that the father of seven reported to local gardai that he had uncovered a plastic barrel containing guns while digging a drain in 1989. The barrel contained weapons hidden by the Armagh/Louth brigade of the IRA.
Gardai involved in the review have concluded more care should have been taken to protect Oliver, who had done his civic duty by reporting the discovery.
The review also identified issues with how gardai gathered evidence during the inquiry and identified lines of investigation that were not pursued or missed.
Oliver was abducted by members of the IRA near the border on July 18. His family had reported him missing after he failed to return home from going to check on a cow that was calving.
The father of seven is said to have been tortured by the IRA. It is understood that his captors broke his bones while he was strapped to a chair. he was shot several times in the head before his body as dumped on a road north of the border near Belleeks in Co Armagh.
The IRA late admitted responsibility for the murder and claimed the farmer had acted as a garda informer. The IRA released a ‘ tape recording’ of a confession that Oliver allegedly made.
Gardai believe Oliver’s abduction was approved by a senior IRA terrorist from Belfast, who authorised the kiling on behalf of the group’s army council. The suspect is believed to have travelled to the area where he was consulted on the confession which had been extracted from Oliver after he was tortured. It is believed that Gardia have no plans to arrest and question the suspect as yet.
Drew Harris, the Garda Commisioner, provided the name of the suspect to Peter Smithwick, the judge who led a tribunal into allegations of garda collusion in the 1989 murder of two RUC officers Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan who were ambushed by members of the IRA after meetings officers in Dundalk Garda station.
Harries wrote the name of the suspect on a piece of paper which he handed to Smithwick. He was in charge of intelligence in Northern Ireland while an assistant chief constable of the PSNI between 2006 and 2014. It is thought the information he provided was based on evidence from an IRA informer.