A former garda has rejected the tribunal's finding that he was trusted by the IRA and helped members get their hands on false passports. Retired sergeant Leo Colton was one of three named officers cleared by the inquiry of colluding with the Provisional IRA on the day Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan were murdered.
But he dismissed other findings against him by Mr Justice Peter Smithwick. "Retired sergeant Leo Colton respects the integrity and the hard work carried out by the chairman and the tribunal team but totally rejects the finding that he was involved with the IRA," he said in a statement issued through Dundalk-based solicitors Dermot Lavery and Co. "Leo Colton was not, is not and never would be involved with the IRA or any other subversive organisation."
The retired judge found that Mr Colton assisted the IRA in 1995 and 1996 by getting his
former colleague, finbarr Hickey, to sign false passport applications. "This is a relatively significant form of assistance and suggests to me that members of the Provisional IRA reposed considerable trust in Mr Colton at that point," the judge said.
The judge said there was insufficient evidence to establish that there had been a relationship between Mr Colton and the Provisional IRA as far back as 1990.
He also accepted that Mr Colton did not know a Dundalk man had a criminal conviction or criminal associations when he certified that he was eligible for a trade plate. Mr Colton resigned in 1991, days before a disciplinary inquiry was due to be held against him over the issuing of the plate. The former garda was on duty in Dundalk on march 20 1989, the day the RUC officers were ambushed. However, the tribunal found that neither Mr Colton nor two other former Gardai questioned - Mr Hickey or Owen Corrigan - were involved in collusion on the day of the double murder.