MAILMAN WHO SACRIFICED SCOOP TO STOP MAGEE SLIPPING THE NET

WAITING for Patrick Magee to surface was perhaps the most frustrating time in Detective Chief Superintendent Jack Reece’s career.

Instead of interrogating his suspect, he had to act out a pantomime – the continuing mystery of Roy Walsh – for public consumption.

He also had to be evasive with colleagues. Even so, he took a calculated risk, sharing the news about Magee with a few members of the investigation and trusting them to keep quiet. They almost certainly did – but the secret didn’t hold.

One day, Reece’s phone rang, and he found himself talking to the Daily Mail crime correspondent Peter Burden.

Burden said he understood that the investigation had identified a primary suspect, a veteran IRA man named Patrick Magee.

The Daily Mail planned to splash on the story. Did the detective chief superintendent care to comment?

Reece could have bluffed and told Burden he had the wrong name, or he could have bullied and threatened him.

Instead, he appealed to Burden’s civic sensibility: ‘If you break this now, you’ll destroy one of the most important criminal investigations that we’ve ever had to face.’

On the promise of a tip-off when Magee was caught, Burden spiked his scoop.

The secret remained safe.