 At the Smithwick Tribunal more than twenty years after his death, several former Garda officers testified they had come to regard him as a personal friend as he frequently visited their stations in his capacity as Border Superintendent.His job also meant that he became known to the Provisional IRA in Dundalk and other towns in County Louth as he would usually travel south in the same car without changing its number plates.He was 5'9 with a large, heavy-set build, and had been described as a man of utter integrity and a dedicated, able and proud police officer who was well respected by his colleagues on both sides of the border.