Former IRA chief walks free in Tidey kidnap case drama
Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane (centre) speaks to the media on leaving court yesterday after being acquitted of the kidnapping.
Related Articles
Friday June 27 2008
MAZE escaper and former IRA leader 'Bik' McFarlane has walked free from the Special Criminal Court after being dramatically cleared of the kidnap of former supermarket boss Don Tidey almost 25 years ago.
The non-jury court discharged McFarlane, who fought a 10-year legal battle to stop his trial going ahead, after his defence applied to the court to acquit him.
The application to acquit was tendered after the three-judge court ruled inadmissible in evidence an incriminating statement alleged to have been made by McFarlane to gardai that he had been at Derrada Wood, in Co Leitrim, where Mr Tidey was held hostage for 23 days in 1983.
This application to acquit was followed a statement by prosecuting counsel Fergal Foley that the State was "offering no further evidence''.
Mr Justice Paul Butler, presiding with Judge Alison Lindsay and Judge Cormac Dunne, said that McFarlane (56) retains the presumption of innocence and the court accepted that.
The judge said that the court had heard evidence of "the horrendous kidnapping and physical abuse of Don Tidey and his son and daughter'' which resulted in the killing of a young soldier and an unarmed recruit garda.
"Although almost a quarter of a century has passed, it is clear from having heard the evidence of Mr Tidey, and the attendance in court of the families of the garda and soldier, that all have suffered greatly, and the court acknowledges that,'' he said.
After his acquittal McFarlane, accompanied by Sinn Fein TD Arthur Morgan, said: "I am very relieved that this has been brought to an end. It has been a long 10 years and a difficult period for myself and my family. I just want to be able to get home and get on with my life.''
The dramatic acquittal came on the 10th day of the trial of the Maze prison escaper.
McFarlane, a father of three, from Jamaica St, Belfast, was arrested outside Dundalk and charged in January 1998.
He had pleaded not guilty to falsely imprisoning Mr Tidey on dates unknown between November 24 and December 16, 1983. He also denied possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life at Derrada Wood, Drumcroman, Ballinamore, Co Leitrim, between November 25 and December 16, 1983, and possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose between the same dates.
Ruling on McFarlane's application to have the alleged admission deemed inadmissible, Judge Butler said that although eight interviews carried out by the gardai were according to "the norms of the time a decade ago", they were not in accordance with the statutory regulations then in existence.
Neither were all answers given by McFarlane and all dates of the interviews recorded by gardai.
Mr Justice Butler said that the court had considered all the evidence and taking into account the denials and refusals of McFarlane to answer questions on the advice of his solicitor; McFarlane's own denial in evidence that he had made the admission; and the defects in recording the statement, the court had a doubt and must give the benefit of the doubt to the accused and exclude the admission.
He said this issue would not have arisen if the practice of today, where interviews are recorded by video, had been in force.
- Diarmaid Mac Dermott
