SAOIRSE32

Daily Ireland

In the fifth excerpt from the Denis O’Hearn biography Bobby Sands: Nothing But an Unfinished Song, the brutality of the screws makes a second hunger strike inevitable

03/03/2006

On the morning of New Year’s Day, Bobby’s family visited him. He intended to tell them that he would be leading a new hunger strike. But he couldn’t. Instead, he asked Adams to get someone to tell them.

A week later, Bobby was finalising the details of a new hunger strike where he would undoubtedly be the first to die. He even sent out a short biography of himself for use in publicity. Threats of a hunger strike began to have an effect on the authorities, however. On January 15, Governor Hilditch came to Bobby’s cell to talk to him about the situation. He said he needed some time to think about how to respond to the prisoners’ offer to come off of the no-wash protest in order to test how far the authorities would change the regime. He asked for a week’s moratorium on any new protest by the prisoners while he considered the situation. (click photo to view)

Bobby gave the governor one further by saying that “as an indication of our good will and willingness and sincerity” he would move ten men from his own wing and ten others from H5 off of the no-wash protest. They would wash, shave, and slop out. Bobby and Bik MacFarlane thought that they, too, could use a bit of time to re-examine their position. In the meantime, they could test what Hilditch meant when he told Sands that the “prison regime was not static and was indeed developing”.

The blanketmen gave Governor Hilditch his week. A wing of prisoners from H3 (Bobby’s wing) and another from H5 (Séanna Walsh’s wing) moved into clean cells with furniture and beds. They began washing. Bobby sent out word to the families to bring their clothes the following Friday. If the governor let them in, things could proceed further, step-by-step. If the authorities failed this first test, protest would be back on the agenda.

Did Bobby seriously think that the prison authorities would move on the clothing issue? Clearly not. Rather, he had to prove to his own people that he had gone the last mile before calling on them to mobilise once again for a hunger strike. By taking the step of moving into clean wings and forcing the governor’s hand, Bobby’s primary goal may have been to move his own comrades, not his enemies. (click photo to view)

After shaves and haircuts, the prisoners were new men.

“Bed’s breaking my back,” Bobby wrote Liam Óg. “We’re not used to such comforts . . . writing on a table is strange, sitting on a chair. Men saw themselves in the mirror last week for the first time in almost three years. It was frightening, especially for Rasputin, or I mean Bik.”

Beginning on Friday, January 23, families arrived at Long Kesh with packages of clothes. On Sunday, Bobby sent a message to Séanna Walsh to have his men ready for Tuesday night. If they did not have their own clothes by then, they would smash their furniture and trash their cells at 9pm. He wrote to the movement, telling them his plans for Tuesday night. They were not amused. Liam Óg frantically sent comms to Bobby on Monday and Tuesday, instructing him to call off the protest. Bobby got the comms but he never gave Walsh the message.

“The sagart [priest] didn’t appear,” he wrote to Liam Óg as an excuse for not passing on his instructions.

Technically, this was true. But the missing priest was convenient. Bik MacFarlane is definitive that he and Bobby decided to send a clear signal to the authorities that they “meant business”. They also wanted to put their own people into a clear frame for action.

The movement was on a completely different wavelength. They thought that smashing the furniture was the beginning of a transition period back into the dirty protest. They were so opposed to the second hunger strike that they did not realise how far into that strategy the prisoners had already moved.

Tuesday came and there were no clothes. Since Séanna Walsh had not heard the instruction to cancel the protest, Bobby decided he also had to go ahead. He wrote the movement that “H5 were going to move. So, rather than halt on the move, we all moved”.

At nine o’clock on Tuesday night “the lads gave the furniture the message”. They broke up their wooden beds, the tables, and chairs. Some tried to break out their windows. After half an hour, ten warders came to Bobby’s wing. Whatever the prisoners expected, what happened was even worse. The warders moved them from B-wing to C-wing, and “they didn’t allow them to walk over, instead they grabbed them by the hair and run them over, kicking and punching the whole time”.

According to Bobby, six men were thrown over a table. The cheeks of their behinds were torn apart by screws.

“Comrade, this is sexual assault,” he wrote to Liam Óg.

The same thing was happening over in H5. The screws organised a gauntlet between the clean wing and the dirty wing. Each prisoner was beaten to a pulp as he ran from his clean cell to the new dirty cell. Men who were waiting to be moved listened to the shouting and the screaming, waiting in horror for their own turn. Bobby described the scene that awaited them: “C-wing has just been vacated . . . The cells were bogging, covered in excreta, also puddles of water on cell floors where the cleaner had begun work.”

The prisoners were left in darkness in filthy cells, with no water to drink, no beds, and “not even a bloody blanket”. All they had was the towel they wore around their waist. The men who went through that night agree that it was the worst night of their lives. They were freezing. They were sore. And it was one thing to live in your own shit; being thrown into another man’s shit was positively sickening.

Bobby organised a singsong to keep them going. Each man walked up and down his cell, trying to keep warm, singing along to the songs. But before long, they’d had enough. They just tried to concentrate on getting some heat into themselves – walking up and down, sitting down and then getting up, rubbing their bodies and hopping from foot to foot. But Bobby kept going, trying to take everyone’s mind off of the conditions. All night long he just kept up a constant banter, singing away on his own, shouting down: “Are you all right? C’mon boys!”

All night, while Bobby kept up their spirits, prisoners rang the buzzers to call the warders. No one came. One prisoner took sick twice in the middle of the night but no one came to help. It was eight o’ clock the next morning before the warders came back on the wing. When they arrived, six men had to go to the doctor.

The PO finally came at 10am and gave the men, in Bobby’s words, “half a fuckin’ blanket each!” The governor came at 11am. Each man asked for a complaint form so that their lawyer could charge Governor Hilditch with breaches of prison rules. That afternoon, the warders left the dinner sitting until it was cold and then distributed it to the men. It was nearly 1:30am when they finally received bedding.

“We sat all night naked, up until five minutes ago, before the bastards found it in themselves to give us blankets and mattresses,” Bobby complained to Liam Óg. “The boys are exhausted, the wing’s like a morgue, all asleep . . . I’m away for a sleep, think I’m sleeping now!”

Tomorrow’s excerpt describes how Bobby Sands informed his family about the next hunger strike.

Bobby Sands book launches:
Belfast: Thursday, March 9, 7pm, St Mary’s College, Falls Road.
Dublin: Friday, March 10, 7pm, Pádraig Pearse Centre, Pearse Street.
Dundalk and Drogheda: Monday, March 13, Barlow House, Drogheda, 5.30pm; Imperial Hotel, Dundalk, 8pm.
Derry, Tuesday, March 14. Details to be confirmed.
Mid-Ulster, Wednesday, March 15, 7pm, Mid-Ulster Republican Centre, Gulladuff.

Irelandclick

After weeks of tireless campaigning Grove Services Group finally agree to pull the plug on their controversial asbestos dump planned for the West

by Francesca Ryan

Controversial plans for an asbestos storage facility in West Belfast have been scrapped thanks to the Andersonstown News-backed campaign which has been running for the last two months.

In a welcome turnaround, Grove Services Group, the company behind the plans, announced this week that they would not be proceeding with the contentious planning application.

The decision came after the company’s Managing Director, Dougie Sloan, held a series of talks with local representatives including Sinn Féin’s Paul Maskey (right) who headed the campaign against the dump.

“Grove Services are to be congratulated on this decision,” said a pleased Councillor Maskey yesterday.

“After consultation with political and community representatives, Grove Services have taken the fears of local people on board and have agreed to abandon plans to bring an asbestos transfer facility to their Kennedy Way premises.

“People living and working in this area will be relieved that Grove Services have put the needs of the community before their own business interests.
“The reality is that the Planning Service would have allowed the planning application for an asbestos transfer facility.

“Against this background the Grove Services’ decision to withdraw their proposals in this regard is wholly commendable.”

Although grateful that the potentially deadly substance will not be transported through or stored in densely-populated West Belfast, Councillor Maskey called for a more stringent policy in the planning arena as the current system, he says, offers little opportunity for communities to challenge such applications.

“Thanks to the Grove Services’ decision the Upper Falls area will not have to face the prospect of asbestos storage. However, it should not go unnoticed that government policy in this regard leaves local communities wide open to this sort of threat.

“West Belfast has been fortunate in this instance in so far as this particular application was made by a local company sympathetic to the needs of local people.

“Were this not the case, the outcome might have been entirely different. Legislation relating to asbestos storage needs to be tightened to ensure that public safety considerations are not just left to the goodwill of the business community.”

Journalist:: Francesca Ryan

Irelandclick

Unionist politicians, aided by SDLP and Alliance councillors, rejected a motion in Belfast City Council last night (Wednesday) to include Daily Ireland in its advertising list of approved national daily papers.
A decision to include the North Belfast News’s sister paper had passed at committee stage after a Sinn Féin amendment, but it was knocked back by full council at last night’s full council meeting. The decision now means that only the Belfast Telegraph, News Letter, Daily Mirror and Irish News can publish Council legal notices in respect of applications for licences and permits.
13 Sinn Féin councillors voted to keep Daily Ireland on the list, while 20 unionist and Alliance Party councillors voted no.
Five SDLP councillors abstained including North Belfast councillors Pat Convery, Alban Maginness and Cathal Mullaghan.
Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast North Belfast Councillor Pat Convery, who spoiled his vote, said the decision not to vote was made by the SDLP group before they went into the council’s chamber.
“Basically the group made the decision before they went into Council based on the information we had,” Pat Convery said.
“That’s the decision we came to after a long discussion – the auditing was used for all other papers, it was only right it should be applied to Daily Ireland.
“We’ve no problem supporting it if the Northern Ireland Target Group Index (NITGI) figures were available. What we want is the verification of a large cover of advertising.”
Daily Ireland publisher Máirtín Ó’Muilleoir said the decision would not deter the company.
“For 34 years Belfast City Council has had a policy of diverting advertising away from the Andersonstown News group. That policy landed them in hot water with the Ombudsman before now and it is to be hoped that in 2006 they will start to behave in a businesslike and fair manner,” he said.
“For our part we will report the news fairly and without prejudice to any party.
It’s up to the Council and to the parties within to make the same commitment in the allocation of their advertising.”

Journalist:: Áine McEntee

Irelandclick

The Housing Executive have been told they must work harder to provide housing for nationalists in North Belfast after the latest figures released show the housing stress list has lengthened.
In the annual Housing Market Review published this week the figures for the period betwen 2002 and 2005 show that the number of people registered as being in urgent need of a house rose by 14 per cent in North Belfast and an even larger 16 per cent if you take into account those registered who have less than 30 points. These people are not included in official Housing Executive statistics because they are deemed to already live in adequate accommodation.
In another shocking statistic, figures show that despite a new homeless strategy that has been implemented by the Housing Executive, the number of people registered as being without a home rose by 10 per cent.
Commenting on the figures, North Belfast Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Caral Ní Chuilin said the figures were damning and raised equality issues because of how they impacted on nationalists.
“Despite their attempts to relocate families and move them into adequate accommodation the figures show it obviously isn’t happening at a pace that meets the need of the people who are living in poor conditions.
“They really need to look at buying more land for housing. The Department for Regional Development needs to take into consideration that land purchased in North Belfast is well above the average price in comparison to other parts of the city and if they are serious about addressing the homelessness problem they have to do it based on need. Their homeless strategy is failing and their North Belfast housing strategy is not far behind it.”
She added: “I am concerned about the equality and human rights implications regarding these latest figures and I will be seeking further advice on it because of the impact on nationalists.”
North Belfast SDLP MLA Alban Maginness said he also had concerns about how the figures were rising.
“This is something that I have been aware of for quite some time. There has been a very significant increase in housing stress, it is a deplorable situation and one that reflects a growing increase in housing stress throughout Belfast and Northern Ireland.
“We have our own particular problems in North Belfast and those problems are exacerbated by the absense of building land but I do believe that the Housing Executive, having spoken to them about the situation, are committed to resolving it. The windfall sites of Torrens and Girdwood will do much to relieve the pressure over the next two or three years but we are going to continue to have a short-term housing crisis in relation to the Catholic community in North Belfast.”
Calling on the Housing Executive to do more, he said that movement needed to be made on the Girdwood site
“I want to see the Housing Executive doing more and I want them to review the North Belfast Housing Strategy, I also think that in relation to Girdwood the development plans for that should be given a top priority and should be expedited.”

Journalist:: Evan Short

Irelandclick

**Please also see Remembering Emma Lynch and Christopher Shaw

Parents hope for maximum sentence as driver who killed local children is found guilty

Ciarán Barnes

A driver who killed two local children in a horrific collision should serve the maximum sentence behind bars, the parents of one of his victims said yesterday.

Michael and Martine Shaw were speaking after a jury found 44-year-old Wayne Johnston guilty of two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and one count of causing grievous bodily harm by dangerous driving.

In December 2003, Johnston was behind the wheel of a car that ploughed into 13-year-old Darren Shaw, his brother Christopher (11) and their friend, eight-year-old Emma Lynch, as they walked a dog along the Springfield Road. Christopher and Emma died as a result of the crash, while Darren spent weeks in intensive care. Thankfully, Darren is making a good recovery.
Johnston denied causing their deaths, but at Belfast Crown Court yesterday a jury took just 45 minutes to find him guilty.

Speaking outside the court, the parents of Darren and Christopher called on the court to impose a maximum life sentence.

Martine Shaw, the boys’ mother, said, “Hopefully he will get what he deserves.

“I just want to say that he has given every member of the Shaw and Lynch families a life sentence, so hopefully he will get what he is entitled to – the maximum sentence – because we have to live with it for the rest of our lives.”
The brothers’ father, Michael Shaw, added simply: “Justice has been done.”

During the two-week trial the jury heard evidence of how Johnston lost control of his Vauxhall Astra car on the Springfield Road on December 19, 2003, mounting the pavement and ploughing into the group of friends who were out walking a dog. Witnesses said they saw his car swerve into oncoming traffic and on to the pavement before the fatal impact, with the vehicle uprooting a traffic light and dragging it up the road where it crashed into the back of a parked 4x4.

Johnston had claimed he suffered a “blackout” because of a coughing fit after having lit a cigarette in the moments before the smash.

Christopher Shaw died shortly after the accident while family friend, Emma Lynch, lived for a few days on life support at the Royal Victoria Hospital. Tragically, medical efforts to save her failed.

Christopher’s brother, Darren, who is now 15, suffered a fractured skull as well as cuts and bruises.

Trial judge Mr Justice Morgan remanded Johnston into custody and adjourned passing sentence until later next month while pre-sentence probation reports are compiled.

Journalist:: Ciaran Barnes

**Please also see Remembering Emma Lynch and Christopher Shaw

A NORTH Belfast father who has been in mourning for the last two years after the death of his only daughter has told of how he broke down and cried when he heard her killer had been convicted of causing death by dangerous driving this week.

11-year-old Christopher Shaw and eight-year-old Emma Lynch had been walking along the Springfield Road in West Belfast when a car driven by 44-year-old Wayne Johnston, formerly of the Highfield Estate, struck them. The children had been taking a pet puppy for a walk with Christopher’s father Michael Shaw when a Vauxhall Astra driven by Johnston mounted the pavement and ploughed into the pedestrians. Christopher died at the scene and Emma passed away in hospital after surviving for another three days on a life support machine.

Fighting back the tears, Emma’s father, Joe Caughey, said the last two years have been the worst of his life.

“I knew when the court case came round it would be hard but I didn’t think it would be this hard. I am in a daze – I feel numb, I just don’t know how to react.”

The New Lodge man still feels a lot of anger towards Wayne Johnston and says he could not attend court because he couldn’t face looking at the man who killed his daughter.

“The day we buried Emma was Christmas Eve, the same day that he [Wayne Johnston] got out on £500 bail, that just knocked the heart out of me,” said Joe.

“If I had done something like that I would have put my hands up right away, but he lied from the start. I just thank God that the jury were not taken in by his lies. My main worry now is that he will appeal and get off, that’s my real concern.”

Johnston claimed that he had lost control of his car after he took a coughing fit and blacked out. But the jury returned a unanimous verdict that he was guilty of causing death by dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily injury by dangerous driving to 13-year-old Darren Shaw who had also been out with the group.

Johnston was remanded in custody and is due for sentencing next month, when he could receive a maximum of ten years behind bars – a sentence Joe would welcome.

“Whatever he gets it can never be big enough because we have to live with this for the rest of our lives.

“Emma was a miracle child, I was told I couldn’t have children and then we had her when I was forty. I know I will never have any more children. It breaks my heart that I only had her for eight years, this man has robbed me of my wee angel.”

Journalist:: Evan Short

IAIS

03/03/06 09:50 EST

Two leading loyalists who have had talks with Irish premier Bertie Ahern and President Mary McAleese’s husband were among 17 people arrested in a police raid in Belfast last night.

Armed police using CS gas stormed the Alexander Bar in Tigers Bay, north Belfast, where it is understood the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) was rehearsing for a so-called show of strength. It is understood an event was being planned for some time this weekend.

South Belfast UDA leader Jackie McDonald and Ihab Shoukri, brother of north Belfast UDA leader Andre, were among those detained for questioning over what the PSNI say is an investigation into serious crime.

The UDA are involved in drug dealing, money laundering, racketeering and intimidation. A bitter internal feud has led to a number of murders in recent years.

McDonald and Shoukri were part of an Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG) delegation that held talks with Bertie Ahern in 2004.

Mr Martin McAleese has met the pair on a number of occasions - the most recent of which was last month - in an attempt to get the UDA declare and end to paramilitary activity.

He also played a round of golf with McDonald at the exclusive K Club, Co Kildare, and Mrs McAleese embraced him during a visit to south Belfast last year.

Though considered well-intentioned, the meetings have been met with muted criticism in nationalist circles.

Today, DUP MLA Ian Paisley jnr questioned the wisdom of Mrs McAleese meeting with “people whose backgrounds can only be described as extremely dubious”.

It is understood police Land Rovers were also on standby in the nearby nationalist New Lodge road area.

Sinn Fein members were concerned that the presence of the police vehicles could attract young people wishing to attack them and they pleaded with them to go home and not get involved.

Councillor Caral ni Chuilin said if it turned out that loyalists were planning a show of strength in the bar, it demonstrated how futile those actions were.

The north Belfast councillor said: “It is ironic that years into an IRA ceasefire, months into a declaration of the end of its armed campaign and since decommissioning was completed, that loyalist paramilitaries are still involved in shows of strength.

“If we are to go forward then we need loyalists to help their own communities and copperfasten the peace process by putting the weapons beyond use and not engaging in this kind of activity. There is no need for armed organisations.”

SDLP policing spokesman Alex Attwood said: “The actions to close down the activities of the UDA or any other illegal organisations are fully justified.”

BN.ie

03/03/2006 - 10:22:51

Last night was the coldest night in a decade, Met Éireann confirmed today.

Air temperatures plunged as low as minus 8C (17.6 degrees F) for the first time since Christmas 1995.

The National Roads Authority also recorded road surface temperatures as low as minus 15C.

Met Éireann forecaster Gerald Fleming said the cold snap will continue until Sunday.

He said: “Our weather station in Birr registered minus 5C last night, while others in Kilkenny, Shannon and Monaghan went as low as minus 3C.

“The last time it was as cold was in Christmas and New Year period in 1995/1996.”

Road conditions remain dangerous, especially in parts of western Connacht, Munster and the Midlands, as a result of freezing conditions and snowfall in some parts overnight.

Tonight will also be bitterly cold again with temperatures again falling as low as minus 6C in places.

Icy stretches are likely on many roads.

Met Éireann has forecast sleet and snow showers in the north and west regions for later today.

BN.ie

03/03/2006 - 10:52:22

President Mary McAleese and her husband Martin were urged today to end all further contact with the leadership of the loyalist Ulster Defence Association.

It follows the arrest of 17 men when armed police stormed a Belfast pub where paramilitaries were rehearsing for a so-called show of strength.

Ihab Shoukri, 31, out on bail awaiting trial for membership of the UDA and who was part of a delegation which had talks with Martin McAleese in south Belfast last month, was one of those detained.

The meeting was the latest in a series between the UDA and the President’s husband.

But today the couple faced demands by nationalist politicians in the city to call a halt to the talks.

One said: “I would think he is doing this with the approval of the Irish Government. I can’t see him doing it otherwise, but he is being taken for a ride.”

Police confirmed today they detained 17 men for questioning after armed officers raided the Alexandra Bar at York Road last night.

CS gas capsules were fired as doors were smashed open before police seized the men, who included other senior UDA figures in the north of the city.

All are being questioned about serious crime.

It is understood the so-called show of strength was being planned for some time this weekend.

Shoukri is a brother of the UDA’s north Belfast leader Andre Shoukri, who is awaiting trial on a series of charges including blackmail and money laundering.

Martin McAleese met the UDA leadership in a hotel in south Belfast last month.

Apart from Shoukri, the others included Jackie McDonald who has met the president’s husband several times. They once played golf together at the exclusive K-Club at Straffan, Co Kildare, where September’s Ryder Cup match between Europe and the United States will be played.

McDonald was embraced by President McAleese when she visited the loyalist Taughmonagh estate in south Belfast last September.

The UDA is an organisation heavily involved in extortion, drug dealing, racketeering and blackmail.

Even though nationalist representatives believe Mr McAleese is well intentioned in maintaining a process of dialogue with loyalists, they are clearly of a view that continuing contact is becoming a huge embarrassment for the authorities in Dublin.

None wanted to be publicly identified with their opposition to the talks but one said: “I think it’s time people like Martin should re-think their engagement with the UDA, given what is happening in Belfast in recent times and because of their continuing criminality.”

Ian Paisley Jnr, a DUP member of the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly, also questioned the judgment of President McAleese and her husband.

He said: “Maybe Mary McAleese should be in the dock today. She is not a stupid woman, just as I am not a Nazi.

“She has chosen to associate with people whose backgrounds can only be described as extremely dubious.”

BN.ie

03/03/2006 - 18:05:03

The husband of a woman killed in the Omagh bombing insists criminal charges must be brought against members of the security forces if they had prior warning of the attack.

Earlier this week it was revealed that at the time the British secret service MI5 learned an attack on the town was imminent.

Relatives of the victims are demanding a meeting with the North’s Chief Constable and the Garda Commissioner.

Kevin Skelton, who lost his wife Philomena, believes the security forces were criminally negligent: “I feel that with the revelations that have come out now that the people within MI5 on this side of the border, and the same thing on the other side of the border, should face criminal prosecution – there’s no question on that.

“They were warned, they were tipped off, they knew about it and the did nothing,” he said.

BBC

Police wearing gas masks returned to search the bar

A raid on a bar in the Tiger’s Bay area of north Belfast was aimed at the loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Freedom Fighters, police have said.

DS Roy McComb said police acted on information suggesting a rehearsal for a “show of strength” was in progress.

He said tactics - which included firing CS gas pellets into the Alexandra Bar - were used in the belief that the men were armed.

The 17 men arrested in the raid are being held under the Terrorism Act.

They are being questioned about membership of a banned organisation and having items of use to terrorism.

“Information presented itself that illegal members of an illegal organisation with illegal firearms were going to present themselves as some sort of defenders of the people,” Mr McComb said.

It is believed that half of those arrested were dressed in combat style uniform, but police have not yet revealed if anything, including weapons, were retrieved from the bar.

A full-scale search searches continued on Friday with police officers coming and going from the pub wearing gas masks.

The UFF is part of the Ulster Defence Association, set up as its “military wing” before the UDA was proscribed.

The police operation began just before 2000 GMT on Thursday.

Bar doors were ripped off their hinges and some upstairs windows in the bar were smashed during the raid.

It is understood that one of those arrested is already facing terrorist-related charges.

A bin lorry was set on fire in the vicinity of the bar

Sammy Duddy from the Ulster Political Research Group, which provides political analysis for the UDA, criticised the operation.

He said tensions were running high in the area following the raid.

On Friday, a lorry was set on fire near the pub.

Two council workers were told to get out of the vehicle and the cab was set alight.

A short time earlier, there was an attempt to hijack a taxi on Glenrosa Link but the driver managed to get away.

North Belfast DUP MP Nigel Dodds said local people had been “stunned” by what had happened.

“We were getting reports of bangs in the area, and there was even a rumour of fatalities,” he said.

“Thankfully, that was not the case.”

The police fired “irritant rounds” during the raid but not live rounds.

In a statement, the Police Service of Northern Ireland said irritant rounds contain CS gas which produce a “high density smoke”.

A large crowd of people from the area gathered at the police cordon during the operation.

Belfast Telegraph

Anger at ‘callous approach’

By Jonathan McCambridge
03 March 2006

The parents of murdered teenager Thomas Devlin have told how their grief was compounded after a phone company refused to end their son’s mobile contract months after he was stabbed to death.

Jim Devlin and Penny Holloway were left stunned after the Carphone Warehouse failed to stop billing them for the phone which police investigating their son’s murder have seized as evidence.

Fifteen-year-old Thomas Devlin was stabbed five times in the back as he was walking home from buying sweets near his home on the Somerton Road last August.

On the night he was murdered he was carrying the mobile phone for which his father Jim had taken out a 12-month contract with Carphone Warehouse.

The grieving couple later contacted the company to ask for the contract to be ended due to the exceptional circumstances but they were left shocked by the response.

Thomas’ mother Penny Holloway spoke to a team leader in London.

Penny said: “I have never spoken to anyone in relation to dealing with issues about Thomas who was so cold and unemotional. She did not even offer condolences. Eventually I asked her if there were many people who tried to end their phone contracts by reporting the murder of their son.

“We could not send the phone back to them because the police have it. We were shocked by the totally inappropriate way they dealt with it.

“This was nothing to do with compensation or money, it was just that their approach was so callous.”

The team leader asked for a death certificate which the couple did not possess. She then asked for a temporary death certificate. She then said she would look into the matter and call Penny back but failed to do so. Eventually the company offered to cancel the contract and their Customer Liaison Executive Andrew Collins wrote a letter of apology to the family.

It stated: “It is clear that your case was handled less sensitively than we would have wished for a customer in your circumstances.”

A spokeswoman for the Carphone Warehouse told the Belfast Telegraph: “We have the greatest sympathy for the parents of Thomas and are very sorry that they experienced added stress while trying to cancel his phone contract during their grieving.

“The fact that the death certificate was unavailable and the phone contract was in the father’s name made this a highly unusual case, but we have now waived the cancellation fee and all outstanding calls.”

Thomas’ family have recently set up a trust in his memory. A website has been set up to provide information about the progress of the fund and can be accessed at www.thomasdevlin.com. Donations can be made at the Northern Bank, 971 Upper Newtownards Road, Dundonald, Belfast.

Belfast Telegraph

By Jonathan McCambridge
03 March 2006

THE family of a Belfast stabbing victim said they have been left traumatised after police carried out searches at his home.

Tactical Support Group units carried out a number of raids in the Ballymurphy area yesterday, including at the home of stabbing victim Gerard Devlin.

A number of arrests were made during the searches.

The west Belfast father-of-six was stabbed to death as he collected his children in Whitecliff Parade last month, sparking a series of attacks on homes and property in the area and incidents of intimidation.

Gerard Devlin’s aunt Bernadette O’Rawe said: “They said they had information that some family members were involved with petrol bombs.

“They went through every cupboard but they did not find anything. Instead they took away a toolbox and Gerard’s coat.

“The family has been left traumatised and upset.

“Here’s a man that’s lying dead three weeks.”

Mrs O’Rawe said the searches went on for several hours.

Sinn Fein MLA for west Belfast Michael Ferguson said: “People today are asking exactly what is going on.

“This raid is insensitive, outrageous and completely unwarranted and tensions are running very high in the area.”

A police spokesman said: “While we realise there have been sensitivities and tensions in the area recently, we are still obliged to investigate the numerous serious crimes that have been reported to us. If we did not we would failing in that duty and would undoubtedly be held to account.

“It is not our intention to cause distress, however, the searches are legal and are considered necessary and proportionate.”

Last night a 16 year-old boy and a 14 year-old boy were released on police bail, while a 50 year-old man and 15-year-old boy were released pending further reports to the Public Prosecution Service.

RTÉ

03 March 2006 09:34

A tribunal into the murder by the IRA of two senior RUC officers 17 years ago opens in Dublin today.

The tribunal, headed by the former President of the District Court, Peter Smithwick, will investigate allegations of garda collusion in the murders.

Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Robert Buchanan had attended an informal meeting with senior gardaí in Dundalk on 20 March, 1989.

They were returning home when they were ambushed and murdered by members of the IRA near the border.

The murder of the two men was one of a number of cases investigated by the Canadian judge, Peter Cory.

In his report, published in December 2003, Judge Cory recommended that a public inquiry be carried out to investigate allegations of garda collusion in their murder.

The tribunal will investigate the possibility that a member of the gardaí informed the IRA of the route the men had planned to take on that day back in 1989.

It is understood that the families of the two men will attend the opening session of the tribunal.

BN.ie

03/03/2006 - 07:18:22

Omagh bomb victims today called for talks with the North’s Chief Constable over revelations that anti-terrorism intelligence was withheld before the atrocity.

They have written to Hugh Orde seeking a meeting to discuss MI5’s handling of a tip-off ahead of the Real IRA strike that killed 29 people.

Although Orde insisted the agency did not deprive his officers of anything during their investigation into the August 1998 massacre, he has resisted pressure to disclose if any information was held back before the bombing.

Allegations that MI5 failed to inform Special Branch of the threat emerged during an investigation into an FBI agent who infiltrated the Real IRA.

Based on a tip-off from American trucking company boss, David Rupert, who was working undercover within the dissident republican terrorist organisation, three suspected terrorists were arrested by police in the Irish Republic in April 1998, but released without charge.

Rupert had warned that terrorists based in County Donegal were planning a strike on either Omagh or Derry, but most likely Omagh, security sources had disclosed.

At the time police in the North, then known as the RUC, were aware that a planned terrorist organisation had been disrupted due to the MI5 tip-off, it has been claimed.

But sources said no trace could be found on their records of any intelligence from the security services that Omagh or Derry had been targeted.

Police only became aware after detectives involved in the Omagh bomb inquiry spoke to Rupert and studied emails the agent had exchanged with his handlers in the FBI and MI5.

He had been the central witness in the successful conviction of the Real IRA mastermind, Michael McKevitt, who was jailed for 20 years in 2003 for directing terrorism.

After Orde deflected questions at a meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board on Wednesday, the Omagh Support and Self Help Group wrote requesting an urgent meeting.

Meanwhile, the body’s chairman, Michael Gallagher, will today urge a Canadian-based internet company to shut down a site allegedly depicting Real IRA training.

Mr Gallagher, whose son Aiden, 21, was killed in the blast, is to go to offices in Toronto in an attempt to get bosses to act.

He said: “Our lives were ruined by these people, but we work ceaselessly to prevent such tragedies happening to others.

“I hope we can rely on the decency for which Canadians are renowned.”