{"id":267972,"date":"2026-01-28T08:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T08:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/267972\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T08:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T08:06:08","slug":"an-garda-siochana-issue-update-on-the-four-members-found-not-guilty-at-limerick-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/267972\/","title":{"rendered":"An Garda Siochana issue update on the four members found not guilty at Limerick trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>THE FOUR gardai cleared by a jury of their peers on Monday have had their suspensions lifted this Tuesday, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.limerickleader.ie\/limerickleader.ie\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Limerick<\/a> Live has learned.<\/p>\n<p>Sergeant Michelle Leahy, Garda Tom McGlinchey, Garda Anne-Marie Hassett and Garda Colm Geary &#8211; along with former Superintendent Eamon O\u2019Neill &#8211; were found not guilty of 39 charges in relation to attempting to pervert the course of justice. It followed a nine-week trial in Limerick Circuit Criminal Court.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There were emotional scenes in court 3 after the jury delivered their verdicts on Mr O\u2019Neill and the four gardai who had been suspended from the force for the last six years. Mr O\u2019Neill retired in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Following a query from Limerick Live, a garda spokesperson confirmed this Tuesday evening: \u201cA number of garda\u00ed serving in the Munster region, who were suspended, are no longer suspended as of today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>READ NEXT:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.limerickleader.ie\/news\/crime-and-courts\/1999730\/fundamental-answers-demanded-over-how-case-against-limerick-gardai-was-ever-allowed-to-proceed.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Fundamental answers demanded over how case against Limerick gardai was &#8216;ever allowed to proceed&#8217;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Senior garda management moved quickly to reinstate Sgt Leahy based in Limerick city; Garda McGlinchey, of Murroe garda station; Garda Hassett, who formerly served in Limerick city and Garda Geary, Clare Garda Division.<\/p>\n<p>Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Niall Collins said the court considered all the evidence, and the garda\u00ed have been found not guilty, on all counts, by a jury of their peers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am glad that those involved can now put this extremely stressful and traumatic period behind them. I know how exceptionally difficult it must have been for them and their families.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is now important is that the serving garda\u00ed can go back to do what they do best and keep their communities safe, as they have always done,\u201d said Mr Collins.<\/p>\n<p>During the trial, retired Assistant Garda Commissioner Fintan Fanning told how it is a \u201cterrifying\u201d ordeal for a serving garda to be put on suspension, accused of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s terrifying, you\u2019re told you can no longer go near your garda station, and the stigma attached is horrendous.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe reality is (the suspended garda) is on their own, their confidence is on the ground, all the steam goes out of you,\u201d said Mr Fanning.<\/p>\n<p>Sgt Leahy, Garda McGlinchey, Garda Hassett and Garda Geary can now return to uniform if they so wish.<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE FOUR gardai cleared by a jury of their peers on Monday have had their suspensions lifted this&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[45,2177,42,67397,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-267972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-an-garda-siochana","tag-county-limerick","tag-headlines","tag-limerick-circuit-court","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}