Courts / Wicklow / Report
Detective denied in interview that she forged DPP letter to cover up failure to complete clerical sex abuse investigation
Summary
In a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court hearing, Detective Garda Catherine McGowan, aged 48 and based at Bray Garda Station, denied forging a letter from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to conceal a clerical sex‑abuse investigation. McGowan pleaded not guilty to one count of forgery and two counts of using a false instrument, relating to alleged forgery of a DPP letter dated 14 January 2009 that supposedly directed no prosecution in a clerical abuse case. The letter, which McGowan claimed she had forwarded to the DPP for review, was said to have been fabricated by combining parts of other documents. She denied forging the letter, denying any relation to the priest involved and denying that her alleged failure to send a file could have exposed others to abuse. The trial, presided over by Judge Mary Ellen Ring, continues with a jury of twelve.
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: Detective denied in interview that she forged DPP letter to cover up failure to complete clerical sex abuse investigation. Charges or matters: one count of forgery on January 15, 2009 at Bray Garda Station and two counts of using a false instrument at Bray Garda Station and at Harcourt Street Garda Station between June 21 and 22, 2011. Procedural stage: trial
When:
- January 15, 2009 Hearing Or Sentence
- June 21 Hearing Or Sentence
- January 14, 2009 Other
- 2015-03-06 Publication
Case subjects
Defendant
Charges: one count of forgery on January 15, 2009 at Bray Garda Station and two counts of using a false instrument at Bray Garda Station and at Harcourt Street Garda Station between June 21 and 22, 2011 (Alleged Or Contested)
Plea: Not guilty
Places mentioned
- is based at Bray Garda Station
- Bray
- at Bray Garda Station
- false instrument at Bray Garda Station
- and at Harcourt Street Garda Station
- Dublin
- Dublin Circuit Criminal Court
- Harcourt Street
Topics
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