John Roche (11 June 1905 – 4 January 1940) was a Garda Síochána Detective who was assassinated in 1940 during the Irish Emergency, becoming the first Garda casualty of the period and resulting in widespread opposition to the Anti-Treaty IRA.
Roche was born on 11 June 1905 in Abbeyfeale, County Limerick. His mother Mary Anne Woulfe came from a landed Catholic family, the daughter of merchant John Richard Woulfe. His father Edmond J. Roche was a peace commissioner.
Having worked in farming, Roche joined the Special Detective Unit on 11 July 1923. He served in Kinnegad, Dungourney and elsewhere in Cork, before moving to Union Quay in 1937, where he served as Food and Drugs Inspector and in plain clothes. He was married to May Roche.
On 3 January 1940, Roche was fatally shot by Tomás Óg Mac Curtain, an IRA commandant and the son of Lord Mayor Tomás Mac Curtain, who had been killed by British forces during the Irish War of Independence. Roche and two others had attempted to question Mac Curtain about criminal activities when he produced a revolver. Roche was taken to the North Infirmary Hospital and died from his wounds the following day.
A cortège funeral was held on 6 January. Roche's coffin was carried from Cork to Mallow and to his final resting place in Abbeyfeale, where Gerald Boland, Minister for Justice, tendered his sympathy. Other attendees included Michael Kinnane, Patrick Brennan, Patrick Carroll, and James Hickey.
The case aroused considerable interest in Ireland. Mac Curtain was initially sentenced to death, following an inquest held on 8 January, however, he was later granted clemency and released after seven years. A statement issued on 10 July 1940 declared: "The President, acting on the advice of the government, has commuted the sentence of death on Thomas MacCurtain to penal servitude for life".
Roche's death at the hands of the IRA was disastrous in terms of publicity and support for the movement.
The historian Uinseann MacEoin observed that some in the Special Detective Unit were still "bloodthirsty" following the death of Detective Roche. John Joe Kavanagh, an IRA Volunteer, was gunned down by the Garda Síochána on 3 August 1940 during an attempt to release prisoners from Cork Prison. Inspector Jim Moore, who led the attack, later boasted that his action was a reprisal for the shooting of Detective Roche.