THE first Catholic university graduate to join the RUC has been described as an "extraordinary man, who did an extraordinary job in extraordinary times".
Kevin Sheehy, who has died after a battle with cancer, joined the force in the early 1970s and advanced through the ranks until he became a Detective Superintendent and the public face of the drugs squad.
A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, where he became friends with murdered solicitor Pat Finucane, he was a controversial character who was known for his flamboyant dress sense and commitment to animal rights.
Originally from Sailortown in north Belfast and a pupil of St Malachy's College, he resigned from the RUC after a lengthy internal investigation into the drug squad ended with no criminal or disciplinary action being taken.
In a book written after he left the force, entitled More Questions Than Answers, he claimed he was "cold-shouldered" after he raised concerns about what he said was the misappropriation of state funds towards paramilitary groups.
Sheehy claimed the IRA and loyalist groups were colluding in fake security company schemes to extort money during the building of social housing with the knowledge of the government.
His work in the drug squad brought him into contact with some of Northern Ireland's most notorious gangsters, including those later targeted by the IRA cover group Direct Action Against Drugs.
Deric Henderson, a former head of the Press Association in Ireland who knew Mr Sheehy for more than 40 years, said his first encounter was after a "clandestine meeting" outside the old Strand Cinema at Belfast's Holywood Arches, when he was preparing a background report on the Shankill Butchers.
Sheehy was not part of the RUC’s investigative team into the gruesome killings, but was involved in an inquiry into other deaths linked to the loyalist gang.
"Detectives meeting secretly with journalists in those days did so at the risk of being disciplined," Mr Henderson said.
"But Sheehy was never your conventional type of police officer. Even when he was starting out, he was very much his own man.
"There were no airs or graces. He was dedicated and passionate about his work, and even though he was a Catholic, he was never into religion. He had very little time for the Church, and he detested bigotry, especially within the organisation.
"He was never afraid to make a big call and having his home and office telephone numbers in your contacts book were prized.
"The establishment nearly had a fit when he revealed how contractors building for the Housing Executive paid protection money to the paramilitaries after factoring in those costs when submitting tenders.
"But that was Sheehy, and it was the manner in which he went about his business that probably explains why he never achieved his full potential as a police officer.
"He was an extraordinary man, who did an extraordinary job in extraordinary times and it was an awful pity when he left.
"One or two officers might have been a touch uncomfortable with his style, but I never heard anyone say a bad word about him. There'll never be another Kevin Sheehy. He was a one-off."
