Colleague of tragic detective Colm Fox says “colour was gone from his face” in lead-up to Regency murder trial

A Garda superintendent has said he still does not understand the contents of a suicide note left to him by a colleague in which he admitted making “a major error” over a high-profile murder investigation and related criminal trial.

Superintendent Brian Daly told an inquest into the death of Detective Superintendent Colm Fox – who was overseeing the investigation into a major gangland murder at the Regency Hotel in Whitehall, Dublin in February 2016 – that the contents of the note remained “cryptic”.

“I still have not got a clue what it is about,” Superintendent Daly remarked.

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Detective Superintendent Fox, 56, was found dead in his office at Ballymun Garda station on the evening of February 10, 2018. The deceased was in charge of the Garda investigation into the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel on February 5, 2016 and its related trial, which was taking place at the time of his death.

Patrick Hutch was charged with the murder of Mr Byrne – a senior member of the Kinahan crime cartel – in a daring attack during a boxing weigh-in at the hotel by members of the rival Hutch gang in an incident which sparked a major gangland feud between the two criminal organisations. The trial at the Special Criminal Court subsequently collapsed due to the death of Detective Superintendent Fox.

In the letter, whose contents were heard for the first time by Detective Superintendent Fox’s family, the deceased said Superintendent Daly would be reading it because of a “drastic act” by him. Detective Superintendent Fox said there had been an “act of omission” on his part in February 2016 by not following up about the recognition of Mr Hutch as a suspect. He said he intended to assign tasks about that aspect of the case but completely forgot about it.

Detective Superintendent Fox continued: “I have made a major error for which I will not blame anyone else. I have been under serious stress for the past week which has led to today’s event for which I am truly sorry.” He explained that the mistake only became apparent during the trial as a result of “an innocent comment which got me thinking”.

Detective Superintendent Fox added: “My mistake may not be seen by some as a mistake and I could not live with that. I cannot change things now and as the SIO (senior investigating officer) I take full responsibility,” he wrote.

Detective Superintendent Fox observed that it might affect the outcome of the trial and for that, he apologised, particularly to the Byrne family. However, he said there was no other aspect of the investigation to be concerned about or any other case in which he was involved.

In evidence, Superintendent Daly described how “nothing prepared me for the sight I witnessed” when he was alerted to his colleague’s death. Superintendent Daly said he was in deep shock as he read the contents of the note which had been left in a sealed envelope addressed to him marked “urgent” on a desk in the deceased’s office.

He told the coroner, Myra Cullinane, that he had re-read the letter in May 2018 and still could not understand its content. Superintendent Daly described having an hour-long conversation with Detective Superintendent Fox on the day before his death in which the deceased revealed he felt under great pressure but asked the witness not to tell anyone else about it.

However, Superintendent Daly, who had offered to help Detective Superintendent Fox with his workload, said his colleague did not elaborate about what he meant and never spoke about any aspect of the Regency investigation. The witness said the deceased started speaking about his childhood, including being a boy scout, as well as his early years as a Garda and his family.

He described Detective Superintendent Fox as “a perfectionist and excellent colleague” as well as a workaholic. “Failure was not part of his vocabulary,” he added.

In reply to questions from the coroner, Superintendent Daly said he believed Detective Superintendent Fox felt he was a failure. “He was a perfectionist in everything he did. He was a great ambassador for the guards,” he observed. Superintendent Daly said his colleague did “everything by the book”. “That is the way he was,” he noted.

The second day of the inquest at Dublin District Coroner’s Court also heard evidence that Detective Superintendent Fox was in charge of 18 different investigations at the time of his death. Several members of the deceased’s family had previously told the coroner that Detective Superintendent Fox was under intense pressure at work in February 2018.

Detective Garda Paul Darley told the hearing on Tuesday that Detective Superintendent Fox was speaking to him in the station’s canteen at lunchtime on the day of his death about how SIOs in the London Metropolitan Police would only ever have to oversee four investigations in a 12-month period, but noted that he was in charge of 18 cases at the time.

The inquest heard the cases included a double murder in Ballymun and an attempted murder of a Garda as well as several shootings. Detective Garda Darley said he formed the impression that Detective Superintendent Fox appeared “fed up”. He noted that there was no detective inspector in their Garda division at the time following the retirement of an officer in May 2017 and there was “no support system in place”.

Commenting on Detective Superintendent Fox, Detective Garda Darley said he could see “the colour was gone from his face” in the weeks before the Regency trial. As the weeks progressed, he said Detective Superintendent Fox’s appearance became “more dishevelled”. The witness also remarked: “The whole environment we were working in was quite stressful.”

He also outlined how the deceased had remarked to him in 2017: “I thought I had made a mistake but I think I got it sorted.” Detective Garda Darley said he did not know what the comment was about and described Detective Superintendent Fox as “a very confident and if anything, overly dedicated” officer. “He was the first man in and the last man home,” he observed.

Detective Garda Darley said Detective Superintendent Fox appeared “in jovial form” and informed him that he had come in early that morning because he wanted to go to a firing range. Later that afternoon, Detective Garda Darley said he noted that the desk in Detective Superintendent Fox’s office was tidy, which was unusual as it was normally strewn with papers and files. In hindsight, the witness observed that it “should have been a red flag.”

Another colleague, Garda Keith Taylor, said Detective Superintendent Fox had told him that he was not really looking forward to the resumption of the Regency trial the following week when they spoke in the canteen on the day of his death. He recalled that the deceased had made a remark about trying to do the right thing but that “mistakes were made”.

Garda Taylor said Detective Superintendent Fox has also spoken about the difficulty of getting convictions in court cases in Ireland and how defence legal teams would focus on collusion and collaboration. However, he said Detective Superintendent Fox did not speak in a “despondent” way and “everything seemed normal”.

Garda Taylor, who had an office on the floor above Detective Superintendent Fox, also described hearing “an unmerciful noise” sometime between 4pm and 5.20pm from the pipes in a radiator which sounded like “metal on metal” being hit with extreme force.

Several other Gardaí also gave evidence about their interaction with Detective Superintendent Fox on the day of his death, as well as the discovery of his body in the en-suite toilet of his office at around 8.45pm. A Smith & Wesson firearm that was signed out by Detective Superintendent Fox earlier that day was found next to his body and he was formally pronounced dead by a doctor called to the scene at 10.15pm.

Garda Stephen Enright, who discovered the victim, said a call had been made to the station’s public office by Detective Superintendent Fox’s wife at 8.40pm as she could not contact him directly. He told the inquest that he and another colleague had agreed it was a strange call to receive.

Garda Enright said the lights in Detective Superintendent Fox’s office automatically came on as he entered the room and he noted that the desk was tidy before deciding to look in the bathroom. He recalled blessing himself and saying a prayer after checking Detective Superintendent Fox’s body and finding no pulse before alerting other Gardaí to the incident.

The inquest was adjourned and will resume on Wednesday morning.

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