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	Former garda&iacute; say phone call stopped them securing confession from chief suspect</p>
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	Two retired detectives have alleged there was political interference in the investigation of the missing child Mary Boyle.</p>
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	Retired sergeant Martin Collins and former detective sergeant Aidan Murray said the chief suspect could have been prosecuted had a phone call from a Fianna F&aacute;il politician not been been made to Ballyshannon Garda station during the investigation.</p>
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	The allegations are made in Mary Boyle: The Untold Story, a documentary currently being broadcast on YouTube about the disappearance of Mary Boyle on March 18th, 1977.</p>
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	The full documentary has been uploaded to YouTube and to date has been viewed 21,000 times. It was made by the investigative journalist Gemma O&rsquo;Doherty.</p>
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	The documentary alleges that the politician involved knew the chief suspect and also the now deceased superintendent Dominic Murray, the man who was in charge of the case.</p>
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	Mary was last seen alive in the afternoon of March 18th, 1977. She was playing outside her grandparent&rsquo;s home in Cashelard, Co Donegal, when she disappeared.</p>
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	Aidan Murray said he and another garda interviewed the chief suspect in Ballyshannon Garda station. The suspect was known both to Mary Boyle and her identical twin sister Ann Doherty.</p>
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	Mr Murray recalled that he felt he would have been able to have secured a confession had he not been ordered to row back on the investigation.</p>
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	He told the documentary: &ldquo;At one stage when I was interviewing him, I said to him, &lsquo;just tell us where the child is&rsquo;. He started crying and roaring. I got a little nudge from the inspector at the time to ease off a little bit and I did.</p>
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	&ldquo;I went out to get him a glass of water at the instruction of the inspector. When I got back, I felt in my own heart that he had a guilty look. I felt if he had that extra wee push he would have admitted it.</p>
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	&ldquo;When you interview a person, particularly a strong suspect, you know in their eyes if they are really telling their truth. I felt that I had him. I felt if we had that wee bit of pressure we wouldn&rsquo;t be here now.&rdquo;</p>
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	Mr Murray said: &ldquo;The result of that phone call is that certain people weren&rsquo;t allowed to be interviewed and it was all hands off. The sting went out of the whole investigation after that.&rdquo;</p>
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	Mr Collins, who was in Ballyshannon Garda station, when the phone call came through confirmed: &ldquo;The gist of it [the phone call] was that none of a particular family should be made suspect for Mary&rsquo;s interference.&rdquo;</p>
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	Ms Doherty said the killer was a sex abuser who wanted to cover up his activities. &ldquo;Mary had a secret and because Mary was feisty, Mary would have told. Mary had to be killed to stop her from telling. I believe that Mary was sexually assaulted. That was the secret.&rdquo;</p>
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	Mr Collins said he had come to the same impression after years of thinking about the case. &ldquo;Looking back on it over the years, I would say yes.&rdquo;</p>
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	He also warned that the chief suspect, who is still alive, remains a danger to other children.</p>
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	Ms Doherty is preparing a legal action to take to the European Convention on Human Rights alleging malpractice by An Garda S&iacute;och&aacute;na and the government.</p>
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	(Published by the Irish Times on the 5th July 2016)</p>
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	<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/mary-boyle-case-documentary-alleges-political-interference-1.2711542">http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/mary-boyle-case-documentary-alleges-political-interference-1.2711542</a></p>
