IT’S NORMALLY bad news when the gardai come to your door with sirens blazing, put you in the back seat and drive off but it made Cian Browne Vaughan the happiest boy in county Limerick. Mike Vaughan and Ellen Browne, Effin, and their youngest son drove all the way to Donegal to see one of the newest vehicles in the garda roads policing fleet - Nexus Type-R Golf - but missed it by a whisker. Gardai had seized the high-powered Volkswagen during an operation that uncovered large volumes of illegal drugs. It is now used for road safety education. Cian, 7, who has autism, loves everything about the gardai after a chance meeting a Cork-based garda Pat Hartigan in McDonald’s. “That started his love of the guards and now our lives are taken over by the gardai! I got him a little garda uniform and a bike in Smyths. He has the proper tie and a clip that they put on. “He has a notebook and goes around to all the garda stations to get his book stamped. We don't go on days out - we go to garda stations! If we hear of a garda event, we're at it. “We went down to the miniature railway in Clonakilty during the summer and called into four garda stations on the way home,” smiled Ellen, who has four older children Michael, Clodagh, Caoimhe and Danny. Ellen spotted that the Nexus was going to be at an event in Donegal so Mike, herself and Cian set off but unfortunately they missed it by half an hour. Ellen spoke to one of their local guards - Niall McInerney - to try and find out when the Nexus would be in Limerick next as Cian couldn’t wait to see it. Niall put them on to Henry Street and Ellen got a call back from Inspector Padraigh Sutton to say they were bringing the car to them after hearing their story. “I was in shock. We didn't think that they'd do something like that for us,” said Ellen. Insp Sutton texted them later to say Sergeant Aoife Bannon and Garda Sarah Durack would be bringing out the Nexus and less than 24 hours later they were pulling up outside the house in Effin. “Cian
PICTURES: Limerick gardai go the extra mile to bring new patrol car to Cian's home
