Detective says he felt threatened by Livingstone

A DETECTIVE investigating the murder of Grace Livingstone said he felt threatened by the victim's husband when he learned that James Livingstone had walked into Malahide Garda station with his RSI number and address.

Mr Livingstone, now retired, was a senior Revenue tax inspector at the time of his wife's murder in December 1992.

He has taken a High Court action against the State arising from the conduct of the Garda investigation into the still unsolved murder.

Det Sgt Cathal Cryan was one of the first gardaí on the murder scene at the family home in The Moorings, Malahide, and he conducted several interviews with Mr Livingstone.

In a statement made by Det Sgt Cryan, he said he would hardly describe his interviews with Mr Livingstone as "friendly or harmonious" and said Mr Livingstone had accused him from the outset of treating him like a suspect.

"He appeared to me to have an attitude problem," Det Sgt Cryan said in the statement read by Mr Livingstone's senior counsel, John Rogers, yesterday.

On December 18th, 1992, Mr Livingstone went into Malahide Garda station after attending a social event and showed a printout of RSI numbers and other details of three gardaí to a garda on duty.

Det Sgt Cryan said he had always been guarded about his address and home details because of the nature of his work and he felt intimidated by Mr Livingstone's action.

"I've always interpreted this disclosure as a form of threat . . . an effort to discourage me from pursuing a particular line of inquiry," he said.

Mr Rogers said his client would explain the reason for his action to the court and he regretted it. "He had taken too much drink during the day," he said.

The court also heard of an allegation made against Mr Livingstone by a colleague about an incident in May 1982. Mr Rogers said Martin Coffey had claimed that Mr Livingstone had taken him into an office, "pointed a handgun at him and told him he wouldn't hesitate to use it if he was the cause of any trouble".

The allegation was made internally in Revenue in 1985 but Mr Rogers said it didn't seem to have gone any further.

Mr Rogers said the alleged incident in 1982 hardly justified his client's detention for questioning about unlawful possession of firearms in 1993.

Also yesterday the High Court heard from a fireman who had taken the 999 call from Mr Livingstone on the evening of the murder. In a transcript of the call taken by John Keogh, Mr Livingstone said: "I have an injured woman, some form of assault."

He said: "She's been assaulted or injured . . . she's lying up in the bed bleeding with her arms tied behind her back."

Mr Keogh said: "The thing that surprised me about it was that he didn't say it was his wife." He said he thought Mr Livingstone was "very cool natured, very straight-forward with no anxiety in his voice. I'd have expected a bit more agitation from people who phone in emergencies."

The case will resume on Tuesday.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times