Family members of a senior garda who died by suicide almost seven years ago have told his inquest of the intense pressure he was under during his investigation of the Regency Hotel shooting in 2016 and the subsequent trial.
Det Supt Colm Fox, who was found dead in his office in Ballymun Garda station on February 10th, 2018, was the senior investigating officer tasked with investigating the fatal attack at the hotel in Whitehall, north Dublin – a major escalation in a feud between the Kinahan and Hutch organised crime groups.
Edel Fox, the detective’s widow, told a sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Monday that her husband was not sleeping and eating poorly during the Special Criminal Court trial of Patrick Hutch, who was accused of murdering David Byrne, a Kinahan associate, at the Regency Hotel on February 5th, 2016. Mr Hutch, of Champion’s Avenue, Dublin 1, had pleaded not guilty to the charge, and subsequently walked free when the trial collapsed following Det Supt Fox’s death.
Ms Fox said that, from the outset of the Regency Hotel shooting investigation, he was under pressure from commissioners to progress matters more quickly. “He would have had high-level meetings with commissioners,” she said. “Colm felt under pressure to progress the investigation.”
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On the evening of February 3rd, 2018, while the trial was ongoing, Ms Fox said she found Det Supt Fox in a distressed state at their home in Malahide, north Co Dublin, and that he “did not seem rational”. She said she “knew it had something to do with the trial”.
Ms Fox said that Det Supt Fox told her “I may have made a mistake”, but that she had no idea what this meant, because he was not making sense.
Sgt Michael Ryan told the inquest that on the morning of his death, Det Supt Fox called him into his office in Ballymun Garda station, where they had a “general” conversation about the Regency Hotel trial.
Sgt Ryan said the detective said if he was to “do it all again”, that he would “do some things differently”, although he did not elaborate on his comment.
David Fox, Det Supt Fox’s son, told the inquest that the trial was “hard for him”, and that he was seeing “his lads” – a reference to his Garda colleagues – being “torn apart”, and “there was nothing he could do about it”.
Fr Sean Donohoe, the detective’s brother-in-law, told the inquest that on the night of Det Supt Fox’s death, the garda’s father Dessie confronted an assistant commissioner who called to the Fox household, asking: “Why didn’t you mind my son?”
“It was the most profound statement I’d ever heard in the six and a half years since Colm died,” Fr Donohoe, a Capuchin friar, said.
When Fr Donohoe spoke to Det Supt Fox at home a week before his death, he suggested to him that “it was time to get out of the police ... and he was in agreement”, Fr Donohoe said.
This was, Fr Donohoe said, Det Supt Fox “admitting for the first time” that he was under pressure. Fr Donohoe said it was the first time that he ever spoke to him about the need to look after himself.
Fr Donohoe said Det Supt Fox had said the Regency shooting would be his last case, and that he had his retirement forms filled out.
Several family members testified that Det Supt Fox never seemed like the kind of person that would take his own life. The court also heard how Det Supt Fox was a “perfectionist” who was passionate about his work and “getting justice for victims”.
Det Supt Fox left behind notes, including for his wife and children and Fr Donohoe, the inquest heard. Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said she would refer to these notes during the inquest, and was of a mind to “open in court” one of the notes. “It will represent what was going through the deceased’s mind [at his time of death],” she said.
The inquest continues.
* If you are affected by this article Samaritans can be reached at 116 123 or jo@samaritans.ie
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