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	Garda -- My Fears of a Cover-Up in Murder Case By Andrew Phelan The Herald December 11, 2009 http://www.herald.ie/national-news/garda--my-fears-of-a-coverup-in-murder-case-1971714.html A Garda on duty the night tragic schoolgirl Bernadette Connolly vanished has said key evidence was destroyed because of the "bungling" of a senior officer. Now-retired garda, Jarlath Grennan has revealed for the first time how a superintendent told him to abandon the scene of Bernadette's disappearance, leaving a potentially crucial footprint unprotected. Mr Grennan has said he is still haunted by the knowledge that the footprint could have led to the capture of the killer and looks back on the decision to leave it as "a big blunder". Bernadette (10) disappeared close to her Co Sligo home in April 1970, and her body was discovered three months later 15 miles away. Calls have been made in the last week for the case files in the unsolved murder to be reopened. Mr Grennan, six years on the force at the time, aged 27, had been stationed at Colooney for about a year. At around 6pm on the night of the disappearance, a sergeant alerted him to an urgent message that a young child was missing. Bernadette's father Gerry told them he had found her bicycle in a field inside a ditch on a road close to the Cloonmahon Monastery. Scene Mr Grennan was specifically given the job of protecting the scene. He immediately saw the seriousness of the situation, with the bike having been thrown over a 5ft wall. "No way had the child just gone rambling", he said. "There was one clear adult footprint just outside the wall and pointing towards the wall over which the bicycle was thrown." He compared the print with footwear worn by Mr Connolly and it did not match. Nor did it match shoes worn by a monk, who passed the scene when he was there. There were no tyre marks on the wet road and no sign of a struggle. He suspected the print belonged to whoever dumped the bike over the wall. As well as being trained in crime scene protection, Mr Grennan held a diploma in Scientific Crime Detection. But he had no equipment at the scene and had to simply stand beside the footprint as garda and civilian searches were carried out. What happened next amazed him -- Supt Tim Long decided the scene protection should be called off for the night. "There was no reason given. I was dumbfounded. I was absolutely puzzled by such an irresponsible decision of the superintendent. It was a live scene, with that evidence and God knows what else there that forensics could have picked up." He expressed his concerns to other officers, then reluctantly left the footprint under a barrel for protection. But when he returned the following day, it was gone and there was little for forensic investigators to examine. In the subsequent investigation, Fr Columba Kelly, who would later become a suspect, sent gardai on "wild goose chases". "To the present day it comes back to me, what would haunt me is, if it had only been done right, who knows how it might have turned out?" Fr Columba died in 2001, but a second suspect, a monk, is still alive. Contact: aphelan@herald.ie
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