Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
SINN FEIN ‘HELPED CATCH GARDA KILLER BRADY’
Crucial information led to capture says ex-top cop
EVIL garda killer Aaron Brady would never have been caught only for vital information provided by Sinn Fein, an ex-top cop has revealed.
The officer who led the enquiry into Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe’s savage murder, retired Inspector Pat Marry, said party members provided information that was crucial to identifying Brady and hunting him down.
Mr Marry revealed: “A lot of gardai don’t like Sinn Fein but the party in Louth stood up to the plate when Adrian was shot dead.
“They were forthcoming in supplying information at a number of different times during the investigation that were crucial to us.
“Only for the information provided by Sinn Fein I do not think Brady would ever have been arrested and convicted.”
The 30-year-old Crossmaglen man shot the detective at point-blank range during an armed robbery at Lordship Credit Union, Co Louth, on January 25, 2013.
Mr Donohoe, 41, only lived a few miles away and died instantly. He and Mr Marry were close friends.
Brady was part of a five-man gang that had carried out a number of robberies along the border.
He was convicted in August last year after one of the longest trials in the history of the State.
He was sentenced to 40 years prison with a recommendation that he serves a minimum of 30.
The father of one didn’t show any emotion when the verdict was returned but the former inspector said Brady cried his eyes out in the cells below the Central Criminal Court afterwards.
Mr Marry added: “Brady is one of the most evil killers I ever met in my life.
“He is cold, callous and has no heart. He didn’t bat an eyelid shooting Adrian dead from a couple of feet away.
“He knew what he was doing and didn’t care.”
The murder caused outrage not only in Dundalk but right across the country and the pressure came on the local Sinn Fein organisation to help.
Brady had been hanging out with a number of dissident republicans in Crossmaglen and gardai suspected he was part of the armed robbery gang. He fled the country as the heat came on, first to Boston and then New York. After being extradited in 2017 with the help of the US police, Brady was charged with the murder the following year.
Two other men are currently before the courts in relation to the armed robbery.
Brady has also lodged an appeal against his conviction based on 30 different legal arguments which is due to be heard next year.
Mr Marry plans to reveal the extensive involvement of Sinn Fein in the hunt for Brady in a new book he is going to write on the murder.
It will also feature sections on the Irene White murder and capture of convicted pervert and medical genius Dr Michael Shine who saved thousands of lives before he was jailed.
He added: “I think people will find
Sinn Fein’s role really interesting. As I said, the gardai traditionally have no time for them.”
Mr Marry featured on an RTE documentary last week into the arrest and conviction of Joe Reilly for the murder of his wife Rachel. The former inspector was the officer who nailed him.
The Mirror contacted Sinn Fein for a comment but there was none at the time of going to press.