A COP found not guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice has told of his seven years of hell fighting to clear his name.
Garda Tom Flavin, 51, who was suspended from the force in 2018, was cleared of all 22 charges last Friday.
He went on trial at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court after a Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation probe.
Gda Flavin, of Rathkeale Garda Station in Limerick, was accused of trying to frustrate criminal prosecutions against individuals.
But after the jury found him not guilty on Friday, he said: “The last seven years have been a nightmare for me and my family.”
Prosecutor Fiona Murphy had said the evidence would show he “sorted out” uninsured drivers by frustrating potential prosecutions.
However, the jury took just over three hours to clear him — with Gda Flavin now asking why he was brought to trial after the court heard there was “no direct evidence” against him.
He said: “My elderly unwell parents attended during most of the trial and to witness them in such anxiety and obvious distress will haunt me for a long time.”
He added: “I love and respect my job but I wish that certain quarters would investigate crime in places where crime actually occurs.
“The whole case asks serious questions of… leadership at the upper levels of the Garda force.”
Blasting the GNBCI probe, his solicitor Dan O’Gorman added: “Serious questions have now to be asked of this elite branch of the Gardai as to how all of this could have possibly been visited on an innocent man and his family.”
