SAOIRSE32

Irish Independent

Via Newshound

10 August 2006

THE family of a teenager gunned down on a motorway only discovered loyalist paramilitaries were responsible for his death on the 33rd anniversary of his murder.

Henry Cunningham, a Presbyterian from Carndonagh, Co Donegal, was just 16-years-old when UVF gunmen, lying in wait on a flyover bridge on the M2 motorway, opened fire on the van being driven by his brother Herbie on August 9, 1973.

On their way home from work, Henry was seated in the front, having exchanged seats with his brother Robert (21) who wanted to sleep in the back of the van.

In the hail of bullets, he was shot in the leg and the heart and died within minutes.

Just three weeks later the inquest took place and the case was officially closed, leaving the Cunningham family in the dark about who had killed their brother and son and why.

But on Tuesday night, brothers Robert and Herbie met with the Historical Inquiries Branch of the PSNI in Derry and were told that the UVF was involved in the killing.

They have now asked whether there had been collusion between the RUC and loyalists at the time.

And the inquiry team confirmed that the Northern Ireland authorities had never been contacted by the Irish Government about Henry’s murder.

“Over all these years no-one ever came forward to tell us anything but we were more shocked to realise that our own Government never asked one question,” Robert said yesterday.

“My father was an Irish citizen and a small farmer who paid his taxes,” he added. “I am disgusted with the Irish Government. That is no way to deal with Irish citizens.”

Anita Guidera

Daily Ireland

BY Eamonn Houston
09/08/2006

On January 29, 1998, the now embattled British prime minister Tony Blair made a statement in the House of Commons announcing the second probe into Bloody Sunday to be headed by Lord Saville of Newdigate into the massacre carried out by members of the elite Parachute Regiment in Derry’s Bogside 26 years earlier.
The circumstances of the killings are well known. Thirteen unarmed civilians – a fourteenth died later – were shot dead.
The first probe, headed by the late Lord Widgery, was widely regarded as a “whitewash”, largely exonerating members of 1 Para of wrongdoing on January 30, 1972.
In 2006, the families of the dead and those wounded on Bloody Sunday still await the publication of the findings of the Saville inquiry.
The inquiry was set up to assess “new evidence that was not available to Lord Widgery”.
Its terms of reference were to inquire into “the events of Sunday 30th January in 1972 which led to loss of life in connection with the procession in Londonderry on that day, taking into account any new information relevant to events on that day”.
The extensive inquiry interviewed and received statements from approximately 2,500 people.
Some 921 of these people were called to give evidence in Derry’s Guildhall.
It was the largest undertaking in British legal history.
The judges, headed by Lord Saville, retired two years ago.
There is unease among families and the nationalist population in Derry about the reasons for the delay.
“Where the state’s own authorities are concerned, we must be as sure as we can of the truth,” Tony Blair said in 1998.
Today he is preoccupied. The official line from the Bloody Sunday Inquiry since the winding up of hearings in Derry and Central Hall Westminster has been that the huge amount of evidence is responsible for the delay.
There is no doubt about the weight of the evidence, but the legions of solicitors and barristers and legal teams employed, including the three-man tribunal panel have still not delivered the final report.
On April 3, 1998, Lord Saville issued the opening statement of the Inquiry.
The object and duty of the inquiry was “to seek the truth about what happened on Bloody Sunday. We intend to carry out that duty with fairness, thoroughness and impartiality”.
The final report, when published, will first land on the desk of direct-rule secretary, Peter Hain.
With the North’s political process in logjam and British paratroopers and troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, the question in people’s minds is: is this report deliberately being held back?
It would neither be politically expedient, nor morale boosting for British troops to be slammed – as the Saville inquiry will undoubtedly do – while British forces are involved in fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the families of the Bloody Sunday dead, and those wounded, are condemned to a waiting game – something they have become accustomed to over decades.
The last press notice was issued by the inquiry almost a year ago.
It stated that those affected by Bloody Sunday – the families and the civilians of Derry who joined the Civil Rights march on that day – would be given substantial notice of the publication of the report.
Derry anti-war campaigner and veteran socialist campaigner Eamonn McCann, who was present on the Bloody Sunday civil rights march, said that the contents of the final report are likely to be embarrassing for the British government and army.
Throughout the Troubles, he said, the British government portrayed itself as a “referee” in a sectarian conflict.
“This was a very British atrocity,” said McCann.
“Bloody Sunday, much as they would like it to, does not fit into the pattern of other killings, such as the Enniskillen bomb, Teebane, etc.
“This report, when it is published will show the extent to which the British were major players in the conflict in the North and not referees.
“The problem on Bloody Sunday was the murderous attitude of the paras – and this is a complication, a potential embarrassment and scandal for the British government.”
Derry MLA Raymond McCartney urged inquiry chairman Lord Saville to address the families to end speculation that the findings of the probe into the killings may be stalled for political reasons.
He said: “In the absence of Lord Saville addressing the families, there will be growing speculation that this report is being delayed for political reasons.
“The families have had no correspondence and some explanation of the delay is needed.”
SDLP MLA Pat Ramsey said that deep psychological wounds in Derry caused by the killings cannot begin to be healed without the publication of the Saville report.
“There is much anticipation across this city about the Inquiry and its findings.
“People are anxious to hear the findings and for the families, it may give peace of mind,” he said.
“People would hope that there are no political reasons behind this delay.”

Daily Ireland

BY Danny Morrison
9 August 2006

“I felt a little bit uncomfortable because there we were in the West Belfast Festival, in a republican area, and this was a play where we have a very disgruntled member of the Protestant and unionist community exposing the weaknesses of his community to, frankly, an audience who probably wants to hear that.
“I don’t want to get into rampant generalisations here but I felt a real discomfort of the fact that Gerry Adams on down was watching this exposé, and where was Gary’s own community?”
That was the view of Karen Fricker, a theatre critic with The Guardian, on BBC Radio Ulster’s Arts Extra during a discussion of Gary Mitchell’s new play, Remnants of Fear.
The play, produced by Dubbeljoint, premiered during Féile an Phobail. Mitchell wrote the play in response to being petrol-bombed out of his home in north Belfast last December by teenagers sent out by the Ulster Defence Association.
The play is the story of how Tony, one dead-end 17-year-old youth from the loyalist Rathcoole estate in north Belfast, is alienated from his father (a former UDA member who has turned against paramilitarism and recognises that the IRA campaign is over) and is lured into loyalist violence by his flashy uncle (a “godfather” if ever there was one).
The play can be legitimately criticised for its imperfections and for what works or doesn’t work dramatically. It can also be appreciated at a number of levels, including its comic elements, particularly in the glimpses we get of the pathetic, closed world of Tony and his sectarian, brainless cohort Darren, both under the spell of Tony’s uncle Geordie. There is also the conflict — albeit undeveloped — between the brothers Geordie and Charlie, Tony’s father. Charlie offers Tony his love but a mediocre life, whereas Geordie offers him the excitement of violence, instant power and money.
For decades, unionist politicians would excuse loyalist violence by claiming that it was a reaction to IRA activity. In Remnants, Mitchell exposes the self-serving nature of loyalist paramilitarism, which whips up fear and stokes sectarianism to maintain its dominance so that it can continue with its rackets and corruption. He exposes loyalists as phoney patriots.
Arguing with Geordie, Charlie says there was no (loyalist) war but that the IRA was fighting the British government and its army. He says that now “the only thing the Protestant people need to be protected from is the UDA”.
This is a recurrent theme in Mitchell’s work and explains why he is not popular in unionist quarters. It resulted in him being driven from his home.
The arts establishment here has had a lukewarm approach to Mitchell’s work, yet he is a talented writer, an award-winning playwright and was writer in residence at the Royal National Theatre in London, where he had to go to get his plays performed.
It has to be more than a suspicion that there are those within the arts establishment here who have used their influence to protect the unionist cause, to promote one play and demote another.
The irony, of course, is that many of these critics and some of those who have the power to fund new artistic commissions and ventures publicly disdain overtly “political” drama as being the anathema of art. It is a view I would largely sympathise with and something I learned slowly. But for many years, these same self-righteous people have lambasted the likes of Dubbeljoint for its canon whilst themselves clearly behaving as cultural commissars, invidiously given to their own political agenda.
In the play, the character Charlie makes a statement that the IRA has disbanded, that there is little or no corruption within republican areas and that IRA volunteers emerged from jail with university degrees. In a few simple phrases, he articulates a general truth that explains, for example, the relative peace and peace of mind in nationalist areas, the high morale and, if one wanted to go further, the reasons for the electoral success of Sinn Féin.
For Fricker, Charlie’s comments represent Mitchell sinking “to the level of unsupportable propaganda”. On the BBC, she mentioned the experience of the late Robert McCartney’s family to infer that “this [UDA] stuff” (widespread intimidation and corruption) has its equivalence on the nationalist side, which is patently not the case.
The nationalist people in west Belfast, who make up the majority there, are no different from nationalists across the North. There is no need to reprise all that they have been through in the conflict except to restate that, whilst all sides suffered, nationalists and unionists are not mirror images of each other.
Féile an Phobail is an example of a cultural phenomenon that, regrettably, has yet to be replicated within unionist communities. It has an ethic, widely supported in west Belfast, of striving for inclusiveness.
That means inviting into the area one’s critics, be they Democratic Unionist politicians, Free Presbyterian ministers, representatives of the Orange Order, parties associated with loyalist paramilitaries, and revisionist historians and journalists.
Gregory Campbell, probably to his surprise, received a spontaneous standing ovation when he entered St Louise’s College on the Falls Road three years ago to be the first member of the DUP to speak in west Belfast. The audience was not patronising him. After all, he came to restate the DUP’s hard-line message, a message the community did not want to hear but it was courteous and heard him out.
Fricker has reservations about Mitchell’s play being performed in west Belfast and asks: “Where was Gary’s own community?” True, only a small number of venturous Protestants or unionists are likely to see the play performed on the Whiterock Road. Many unionists don’t want to see it — though they should — but that is no reason to raise a question about the right of nationalists to see it and, in particular, west Belfast nationalists.
Fricker also had reservations about Gerry Adams being present. After all, he is only the MP for the constituency!
The play, she says, is “an exposé of the unionist community but the revelations aren’t that startling or surprising”. She appears to assume that Adams would be gloating at hearing a message he and his constituents “probably want to hear”. Is she suggesting that, out of respect for unionist sensibilities, Adams should not have gone? If she is, then she is setting yet another standard for republicans and one not required of unionists.
It would be a very short-sighted nationalist or republican indeed who gloated at the spectacle of continuing loyalist violence or at the poverty within unionist working-class areas, caused by inept political representation and degradation by loyalist paramilitaries.
Presumably, Fricker would prefer Remnants of Fear to have premiered in front of a perceptive and mature audience, let’s say in the West End, rather than in “smug” nationalist west Belfast.
Many critics, as I know, bring to their work a measure of their own political prejudices, which of course they deny doing. They do so, particularly in respect to novels or plays written by republicans or plays that might have a political subtext that challenges the usual orthodoxy.
It is then that we see their true colours. It is then that we see who it really is who resorts to a level of unsupportable propaganda and unfair criticism.

Washington Post

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK
The Associated Press
August 9, 2006

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Riot police blocked supporters of Irish Republican Army dissidents Wednesday from parading in a hard-line Protestant town, as IRA dissidents were accused of destroying three shops with firebombs.

More than 100 police in flame-retardant suits and helmets blocked the parade from leaving a hard-line Catholic enclave of Ballymena, an overwhelmingly Protestant town where a 15-year-old Catholic boy was beaten to death in a mob attack in May, Northern Ireland’s most recent sectarian killing.

Northern Ireland fire service officers deal with several fires at an inductrial estate in Newry, Northern Ireland, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2006. It is widely suspected that dissident Irish Republican terrorists carried out the fire bomb attacks that destroyed several major stores.

Both Protestants and moderate Catholics had criticized the dissident parade as deliberately provocative and agreed with British authorities that it should be prevented from leaving a Catholic housing estate.

Last year, the same parade ended in stone-throwing confrontations with police and a rival Protestant mob. But on Wednesday night, the heavy police presence _ backed by two massive mobile water cannons _ ensured that the marchers retreated from police lines without confrontation.

But IRA dissidents opposed to the IRA’s 1997 cease-fire apparently struck elsewhere. Fires razed three shops overnight in the predominantly Catholic border town of Newry.

No group claimed responsibility, but firefighters and police said the fires appeared to have been ignited by cassette-sized firebombs that had been placed in racks of flammable goods in three shops selling sports equipment, furniture and carpets, respectively. Such firebombs were designed by IRA engineers in the 1980s to detonate by timer at nighttime, wrecking the business without causing injuries to shoppers or staff.

The last wave of firebombings blamed on IRA dissidents happened in the run-up to Christmas 2004. Wednesday’s attacks coincided with the 35th anniversary of Britain’s decision to impose internment without trial of IRA suspects, a threshold event that backfired and fueled support for the IRA.

The Ballymena march was also supposed to be commemorating internment, a policy that Britain abandoned in 1976 in favor of bringing IRA suspects to court to face specific criminal charges.

The Catholic demonstrators, who included supporters of two splinter groups called the Real IRA and the Irish National Liberation Army, said they were determined to win the same, wide-ranging right to march as Protestants, who stage more than 3,000 parades from April to August _ a tradition many Catholics resent as designed to intimidate them.

So far this year, Northern Ireland’s so-called “marching season” has been the most peaceful in Northern Ireland since 1969, when the modern conflict was ignited amid widespread rioting over one such Protestant march. The biggest Protestant parades on July 12 passed without problems and with no British troops on the streets for the first time since 1969.

Ballymena, which has a mostly Catholic north and mostly Protestant south, is already riven with sectarian tensions over the May murder of Michael McIlveen. The 15-year-old Catholic was pursued by Protestant youths from the town’s main cinema, cornered and fatally beaten with baseball bats.

Daily Ireland

By Connla Young
08/10/2006

A massive PSNI operation swung into place last night during a republican parade in Co Antrim.
Hundreds of PSNI personnel sealed off the nationalist north end of Ballymena as a parade organised by the Friends of William Orr got under way.
For the first time ever, Parades Commission chiefs ordered bands not to play music for the duration of the event.
Parade organisers had applied for permission for take five bands into a nationalist end of the town.
However no bands participated in last night’s parade. Instead, a republican colour party marched the length of the parade route at Fisherwick Crescent.
Just 24 hours earlier, Sinn Féin held a hunger strike event in a Ballymena housing estate during which a republican band played music.
Spokesman for the 32 County Sovereignty Movement Paddy Murray spoke about the right of nationalists to march in the town.
“I congratulate those who took part in the parade last night. Nationalists and republicans have a right to parade,” he said.
The huge PSNI operation was put in place just hours after an unscheduled republican parade was held in Ballymena’s Dunclug estate.
The parade, which is understood the have involved a flute band from north Antrim, took place on Tuesday night during an anti-internment anniversary bonfire and vigil to hunger striker Tom McElwee. It is believed a single band formed on local playing fields and played music for 30 minutes.
During the event north Antrim Sinn Féin representative Laurence O’Neill addressed the crowd.
It is understood the PSNI swamped the district during the parade but later withdrew after being approached by community representatives.
Ballymena Sinn Féin spokesman Padraig McShane said the parade was a success. “It was a good community event and shows that nationalists and republicans can hold such an event. It showed that the young people of the area can behave themselves and as long as the PSNI stayed away there would be no trouble.”
The PSNI last night said it had adopted a “cautious approach to the incident”.

BN.ie

10/08/2006 - 17:55:39

The SDLP has called on the Irish government to help fund the building of a new police training college in the North.

But the Police Federation and the Ulster Unionist Party have said it’s not up to Dublin and the British government should come up with the cash.

SDLP policing spokesman, Alex Attwood, said the Department of Justice should bridge the £40m (€58m) gap to reach the £150m (€220m) required for the new college to be sited at Cookstown, Co. Tyrone.

Work had been due to start last month but the money simply isn’t there although it was recommended in the Patten Report and the chief constable, Hugh Orde, says it’s badly needed.

But the chairman of the North’s Police Federation, Irwin Montgomery, said Dublin shouldn’t have to make up the shortfall while Ulster Unionist Policing Board member Fred Cobain agreed and said he wasn’t interested in money from Dublin.

Daily Ireland

Rival gang suspected over attack on republican’s memorial

By Ciarán Barnes
08/10/2006

A memorial to a Belfast man murdered by loyalists in one of the Trouble’s most controversial killings has been attacked by paint bombs.
A plaque erected in the Ballymuprhy area in memory of Francisco Notarantonio and his murdered grandson Joseph O’Connor, was defaced during the early hours of yesterday morning.
The Notarantonio family believes members of a rival gang who they have clashed with were responsible.
A spokeswoman for the family said: “The memorial to these two dead republicans was attacked by those who clearly do not possess an ounce of decency.
“The memory of the dead is sacred and our dead are no less sacred than anyone else’s. All republicans should condemn this disgraceful desecration.”
Four members of the Notarantonio family are currently out on bail charged with the brutal February murder of Ballymuprhy father of six Gerard Devlin.
Mr Devlin was stabbed in the back during a street fight on Whitecliffe Parade. At the time of his death he had a £10,000 (€14,818) bounty on his head. He had been involved in a series of clashes with the Notarantonio’s prior to his death.
In the weeks after the murder, a number of houses belonging to the Notarantonio’s were petrol bombed.
Friends of the Devlin family, Wayne McComb and Jim Reynolds, were injured in a drive by shooting and hammer attack.
Both the Notarantonios and Devlins were warned by the PSNI their lives are under threat.
Francisco Notarantonio, who is commemorated on the Ballymurphy plaque, was shot dead in 1987 by loyalists acting on information provided by the British army.
It has since been claimed that the pensioner was murdered in order to protect a senior British army IRA mole who was the gunmen’s original target.
Joseph ‘JoJo’ O’Connor was shot dead outside his west Belfast home in 2002.
He was a leading member of the Real IRA. The IRA was blamed for killing him.

Daily Ireland

By Connla Young
08/10/2006

Human-rights activists will gather in Belfast today to discuss concerns arising from the trial and convction of Michael McKevitt.
The Co Louth republican was sentenced to 20 years behind bars in 2003 after being found guilty of directing terrorism and membership of an illegal organisation, the Real IRA.
Today’s panel discussion comes just weeks after the publication of a booklet highlighting questions raised in the aftermath of Mr McKevitt’s trial and the role played by the paid MI5 and FBI agent David Rupert in securing the conviction.
The Framing of Michael McKevitt is written by Mr McKevitt’s sister-in-law Marcella Sands and includes a foreword by the activist Catholic priest Des Wilson.
The Belfast-based cleric said he was deeply concerned by aspects of the McKevitt trial.
“The case of Michael McKevitt must go to the European courts and, when it does, our fellow Europeans may well be shocked.
“We who are already shocked may not feel helpless. Michael McKevitt and his family need our help, and that help should be given for the sake of justice for all of us.”
Ms Sands, a sister of the hunger striker Bobby Sands, encouraged members of the public to attend today’s event.
“The Sands family have faced difficult times in the past. This is another issue based around human rights and exposing the British state. This is about pursuing justice and the truth, and my brother Bobby would have expected nothing less of me,” she said.
Mark Thompson of the Relatives for Justice group said questions surrounding the arrest and trial of Michael McKevitt needed to be answered.
“Clearly, from our perspective, if we are going to examine the role of MI5 and collusion, I think this case is going to be at the heart of it,” he said.
Today’s discussion will be chaired by Noelle Ryan. Also taking part are Fr Joe McVeigh, Monsignor Raymond Murray, Fr Des Wilson, Mark Thompson and Clara Reilly of Relatives For Justice, and the human-rights lawyer Kevin Winters.
The event will take place at the Balmoral Hotel on Belfast’s Blacks Road between 2.30pm and 4pm today.

Daily Ireland

By Eamonn Houston & Connla Young
08/10/2006

The PSNI’s Historical Inquiries Team has told the family of a Donegal teenager shot dead by the Ulster Volunteer Force in 1973, that a fresh probe will take four months.
Henry Cunningham (16) died after his work van was raked with gunfire by UVF members on a footbridge over the M2 motorway at Dunsilly, near Templepatrick in Co Antrim, in August 1973.
The teenager was struck by a single bullet and shrapnel.
The van was travelling to Collon, near Carndonagh in Co Donegal, from a building site on the outskirts of Belfast.
An inquest into the teenager’s murder was carried out three weeks after the ambush and before a Royal Ulster Constabulary investigation had been completed.
Earlier this year, members of the dead teenager’s family met representatives of the Republic’s Department of Foreign Affairs at the Pat Finucane Centre in Derry. Both Robert and Herbert Cunningham were in the van when their brother Henry was killed.
Robert Cunningham said last night that many questions about the murder remained unanswered.
Mr Cunningham said: “We know that five UVF men were apprehended earlier in the year with the gun that was used in Henry’s murder.
“There are also no records of the motorbike used in the murder. The inquest into his death was held just three weeks later, which is very strange.
“There are so many grey areas and a lack of action by security forces on both sides of the border. Nothing has been done North or South. It has now been confirmed to us that the UVF committed the murder.”
The Historical Inquiries Team was set up earlier this year. It has been given five years to re-examine more than 3,000 Troubles-related deaths.

Daily Ireland

By Connla Young
08/10/2006

Loyalists have been blamed for sparking a full-scale riot in a Co Derry town during a bonfire to mark the 35th anniversary of internment.
Fierce fighting broke out after a gang of loyalists attacked dozens of people standing at a nationalist bonfire at a playground at Sperrin Drive in Magherafelt on Tuesday night.
According to nationalists, loyalist youths launched an attack from the nearby loyalist Leckagh estate. Several Catholic families have fled the estate in recent years after being targeted by loyalist pipe bombers.
Local sources have said loyalist youths taunted nationalist bystanders about the murder of the 15-year-old Catholic schoolboy Michael McIlveen in Ballymena, Co Antrim, in May.
During the clashes, petrol bombs and other missiles were thrown by the rival groups. Several people were attacked at Leckagh Walk, Leckagh Drive and Sperrin Drive. A lamppost was shaken out of its foundations at Sperrin Drive during the disturbance.
The PSNI was targeted during the incident and a 33-year-old man was beaten over the head with an iron bar.
Tensions in the south Derry town have been high throughout the summer after the erection of dozens of loyalist flags.
In recent weeks, a number of Tricolours and other nationalist flags were erected in the vicinity of Tuesday night’s bonfire. It is understood that Sinn Féin representatives removed several of the flags in the area last weekend in a bid to reduce tension in the run-up to the internment anniversary.
Local Sinn Féin councillor Seán McPeake said loyalists had sparked the trouble.
“The whole thing has to be condemned, and the blame rests on the shoulders of those loyalists who antagonised nationalists.
“There has been tension in Magherafelt. There have been a lot of bonfires in Magherafelt, and there’s an underlying problem there,” he said.
Magherafelt SDLP councillor Jim Campbell condemned the violence.
“It appears this entire incident was pre-planned, as it has been reported that petrol bombs were used. This is very worrying and such behaviour is completely unwelcome by the people of Magherafelt.
“No cause can justify such destruction. Local residents should not have to deal with riotous scenes in the early hours of the morning. Those responsible really have a lot to answer for,” he said.
Magherafelt Democratic Unionist Party councillor Paul McLean said nationalist youths had started the trouble.
“This was orchestrated. Forty to 50 nationalist youths vandalised and terrorised homes in Leckagh Drive and threw bricks, blocks and petrol bombs. This was a hostile situation.
“There were people willing to defend their homes but that wasn’t necessary. This bonfire appeared out of nowhere on Tuesday and, within hours, it was erected with a big effort from a lot of people,” he said.

Daily Ireland

One year on the family of Thomas Devlin remember their murdered son

By Áine McEntee
08/10/2006

Today marks the first anniversary the 15-year-old’s murder. Thomas was stabbed in the back in August 10 last year but no one has been brought to justice for his murder.

The parents of the murdered Belfast teenager Thomas Devlin have said they know who killed their son.
Thomas’ parents believe his killers are capable of killing again.
The former Belfast Royal Academy student was walking home from a shop with two friends when they were attacked by at least two armed men.
The trio were just metres away from Thomas’ home on the Somerton Road in north Belfast when the attack occured. Thomas was stabbed five times in the back while his 18-year-old friend was also injured.
Thomas’ parents Jim Devlin and Penny Holloway said the assailants had carefully planned the attack.
“It is known who the two prime suspects in Thomas’ murder are, and their family members and girlfriends know who murdered Thomas,” Ms Holloway said.
“To me, they are just as responsible because they haven’t been able to turn them in. They certainly don’t value Thomas’ life because they know who killed him.
“It’s our view they don’t value Thomas’ life or that of others because they could kill again but, in the meantime, family members are allowing both to walk about freely,” she said yesterday.
Thomas’ mother said the family and the PSNI were keen to issue a fresh appeal for any information that could help in the investigation.
Jim Devlin said: “These men effectively tried to kill all three of them but they were able to get away.
“They were going out to kill someone and it didn’t matter who. It was certainly premeditated. They took a knife out and looked at the Somerton Road and carefully planned where they would attack. There was nowhere to run for the boys — no gardens to run into because it happened beside the bishop’s house, the school and the church.
“I believe these two men with their dog were just trawling for a victim. It could have been anybody. To me it was random, not sectarian.”
The two parents said the attack had been planned in an area where many householders would walk their dogs.
“The dog was a good lure,” Mr Devlin said.
“No one would think that was out of place. They are the ultimate cowards.”
Ms Holloway said she had taken the family dog Rosie out for a walk along the same path the night before her son was killed.
“These two men jumped Thomas and his two friends from behind. Nothing was said. There was no altercation.
“The police haven’t ruled it out but it’s not the prime drive. It doesn’t bear the hallmarks of a sectarian killing,” she said.
“These people shouldn’t be shielded behind sectarianism. They are just pure evil.”
The two parents, who have twins older than Thomas, said it was important for the family to keep strong but also important to ensure that progress was made regarding finding those who killed Thomas.
“It’s important that society sees the people responsible punished,” Ms Holloway said. “I basically live from day to day. We have two other children, and they have found it utterly and incredibly hard to deal with. But we have to keep on. For me, the only time I’ll get justice is when the people responsible are behind bars.”
Tonight relatives and friends will gather for a quiet ceremony in St Thérèse’s Church on the Somerton Road to mark Thomas’ anniversary.

Daily Ireland

Dissident republicans suspected to be behind fire bomb blitz as local businesses destroyed

By Connla Young
08/10/2006

Millions of pounds worth of damage has been caused to businesses in Newry after they were targeted in a suspected dissident republican fire bomb blitz. Around 150 firefighters and 26 appliances were tasked to the scene to tackle blazes at nine commercial outlets at around 2.30pm on Wednesday.
Two outlets, JJB Sports and CarpetRight stores, were both destroyed. Another seven stores including high-street names such as TK Maxx, MFI Dunne Stores and B&Q, were badly damaged.
Up to 20 homes were evacuated as firefighters tackled the blazes, which were centred on the town’s Damolly Retail Park and Merchants Quay shopping centre.
The PSNI has warned that more fire bombs could be planted in stores across the North.
The bomb attacks took place on the 35th anniversary of the introduction of internment in 1971.
Newry and Armagh Sinn Féin MP Conor Murphy said: “The destruction of these businesses has caused much anger in the Newry area and is particularly worrying for those employed in these stores.”
He said it was suspected it was the work of what he called republican micro-organisations opposed to the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement.
“These groups have little or no support within this community and they do not have a strategy to deliver Irish unity and independence.
“It is incumbent on all of us in political leadership to make it clear that politics can work and that politics can deliver change.”
Dominic Bradley, SDLP assembly member for Newry and Armagh, branded the attacks “futile”.
“This type of wanton destruction of property and jobs only underlines once again the utter futility of violence and should be condemned without reservation by all right-thinking people.
“Newry has overcome this type of attack from the IRA in the past and I am confident that the community here will stand firm with me in saying that those who carry out this type of activity, which serves no purpose whatsoever, have absolutely no support in Newry and should discontinue their activities immediately,” said Mr Bradley.
Ulster Unionist Party assembly member Danny Kennedy said: “People are completely appalled, shocked and stunned.
“These are multinational businesses and it is important everything possible is done to make them stay in Newry.”
He said the attack was utterly reprehensible and should be condemned “in the strongest possible way”.
Throughout yesterday, the British army bomb squad dealt with a number of hoax alerts across the city.
Newry and Mourne Sinn Féin councillor Charlie Casey has called for an urgent meeting of the council’s economic development committee to discuss the attack.
“Sinn Féin is about working for political, economic and social change.
“We do not want to see jobs lost or business taken from our city.
“The council will facilitate a meeting over the next day or two which will involve all stakeholders, the chamber of commerce, elected representatives and government agencies, and we will work together to recover and move forward,” said the Newry city councillor.

Daily Ireland

UVF murder victim’s father has heated argument with leader of PUP at West Belfast Festival discussion after questions surrounding killing surface

By Ciarán Barnes
08/10/2006

The father of an Ulster Volunteer Force murder victim clashed with a senior loyalist spokesman at a festival debate in west Belfast last night.
Raymond McCord Sr argued with Progressive Unionist Party leader David Ervine about the role of police informers in the death of Mr McCord’s son, also Raymond.
The angry exchange took place at Féile an Phobail’s West Belfast Talks Back discussion in St Louise’s College on the Falls Road.
Belfast North Sinn Féin assembly member Gerry Kelly, Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan and Ulster Unionist Party peer John Laird were on a panel chaired by the BBC political correspondent Martina Purdy. The panel took questions from a 500-strong audience.
Among the topics discussed was loyalist and security force collusion, Orange marches, plastic bullets, and the crisis in the Middle East.
The angriest exchange of the night took place when Mr McCord questioned Mr Ervine about the death of his son.
In 1997, a UVF gang beat to death 22-year-old Raymond McCord Jr. Some of the gang were police informers.
The victim’s father asked Mr Ervine if the loyalist leader would like to see the killers jailed and if he would insist on the killers serving full prison terms as the murder had not been sanctioned by the UVF leadership.
A clearly annoyed Mr Ervine said he would have “no problem” with the UVF gang members being put behind bars. He said it was hard to refute claims the gang contained no informers given the evidence to the contrary.
However, the Belfast East assembly member launched a scathing attack on Raymond McCord Jr, branding the dead man a “drug dealer” who was “the worst type of UVF member”.
Mr Ervine also said he was getting “pissed off” at constantly being questioned about the killing.
An emotional Raymond McCord Sr insisted his son had been naive and used by the UVF to ferry drugs.
He also repeated assurances given to him by the UVF leadership that his son had not been a member of the paramilitary organisation.
At the end of the evening an angry Mr McCord confronted Mr Ervine over the drug dealing allegation against his son.

BBC

Two people have been arrested by detectives investigating the murder of 15-year-old Thomas Devlin.

Thomas Devlin was stabbed to death

Thomas was stabbed in the back five times as he and two friends walked home along the Somerton Road in Belfast, on 10 August 2005 after buying sweets.

On Tuesday, police made a fresh appeal for information about his murder.

They said that more than 900 statements had been taken in relation to the killing and more than 60 properties had been searched.

Thomas’s 18-year-old friend was injured in the attack, but not seriously. A 16-year-old boy managed to escape.

Thomas, a student at Belfast Royal Academy, was a talented musician who played the horn at school.

Guardian

Owen Bowcott, Ireland correspondent
Thursday August 10, 2006

Dissident republicans were blamed yesterday for a spate of incendiary attacks and bomb alerts in the Northern Ireland town of Newry, close to the border, that destroyed at least four large retail stores.

The explosions and resulting fires in the early hours caused damage estimated at tens of millions of pounds. Twenty homes were evacuated as nearly 150 firefighters tackled the blazes.

Later bomb alerts disrupted the main Belfast-Dublin railway line, a target of previous attacks by republican splinter groups such as the Continuity IRA and Real IRA. Local tax and benefit offices were also evacuated. Flames swept through Carpetright, pictured, and MFI stores, and a JJB sports shop. A TK Maxx store had extensive heat damage. The fire service said incendiary devices had probably been used.

Sinn Féin and Ulster Unionists blamed dissident republicans. Yesterday was the 35th anniversary of the introduction of internment, and it was also the morning before a contentious annual parade by dissidents in Ballymena.

The local Sinn Féin MP, Conor Murphy, blamed “republican micro-organisations” that had “little or no support” in the community”.

Guardian

· Suspects’ homes searched and computers seized
· Ombudsman inquires into UVF murder of Catholic

Owen Bowcott, Ireland correspondent
Thursday August 10, 2006

Three former detectives have been arrested and questioned by investigators working for Northern Ireland’s police ombudsman as part of a far-reaching inquiry into loyalist paramilitary murders

Chief Superintendent Tom Meek and Constable Trevor McIlrath, were interrogated about an alleged attempt to pervert the course of justice and misconduct in public office, before being released last night. Their homes were also searched.

A third former detective was being questioned last night after returning from a holiday abroad. Johnston “Jonty” Brown was arrested at Belfast international airport as part of the inquiry into the handling of RUC special branch informers.

His home has been searched and computer equipment and other items taken. The retired sergeant had previously been interviewed voluntarily since he left the force in 2001 and began revealing embarrassing and damaging details of police special branch work with paramilitary informers. He was involved in the police undercover operation which led to the 1994 arrest and conviction of feared loyalist commander Johnny “Mad Dog” Adair.

The investigation by the ombudsman, Nuala O’Loan, was triggered by a complaint about the way officers carried out the inquiry into the murder of Raymond McCord, who was beaten to death in Newtownabbey, on the northern outskirts of Belfast, in 1997 by members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). At least one of those responsible was allegedly working for police special branch at the time.

Over the past three years, as more allegations emerged, the investigation has steadily expanded. Killings committed as long ago as the 1980s are being re-examined. Most involved the UVF.

The handling of intelligence and informers by what was then the RUC’s special branch has been the focus. The most controversial issue is whether informers were permitted to become involved in murders and serious crimes without facing prosecution.

The investigation is the largest undertaken by the ombudsman’s office since its inquiry into the 1998 Omagh bombing. The full report is likely to be published before Christmas. No one has been charged but an interim file was sent to the Public Prosecution Service.

The two former detectives arrested yesterday were once CID officers. Both Mr McIlrath and Mr Brown worked on the McCord inquiry when members of the RUC.

The ombudsman’s office confirmed that another of the murders being re-examined was that of a taxi driver gunned down by the UVF 13 years ago, and the subsequent RUC investigation. Sharon McKenna, 27, a Catholic from Newtownabbey, was shot at the north Belfast home of an elderly friend where she had gone to make his dinner.

Speaking before he returned from his overseas holiday, Mr Brown told BBC Radio Ulster yesterday that he expected to be arrested on his return. But he protested that he had cooperated with the ombudsman’s office since 2001.

“The trouble is that they are going for people who are speaking out, like Trevor and I,” he said. “This sends the wrong message to police officers who approach me and say they know about this and that. There’s a wall of silence and I’m effectively being told … to shut up.”

BBC

A terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight from the UK to the US has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said.

It is thought the plan was to detonate up to three explosive devices smuggled on aircraft in hand luggage.

Police have arrested about 18 people in the London area after an anti-terrorist operation lasting several months.

Security at all airports in the UK has been tightened and delays are reported. MI5 has raised the UK threat level to critical - the highest possible.

According to MI5’s website, critical threat level means “an attack is expected imminently and indicates an extremely high level of threat to the UK”.

Home Secretary John Reid confirmed that there had apparently been a plot “to bring down a number of aircraft through mid-flight explosions causing a considerable loss of life”.

According to BBC sources the “principal characters” suspected of being involved in the plot were British-born.

In other major developments:

–The US Department of Homeland Security said the increased threat level applied to commercial flights originating in the UK

–The Home Office confirmed there had been three meetings overnight and on Thursday morning of the Cabinet’s emergency committee, Cobra, chaired by Mr Reid, to discuss the terror alert

–A spokesman for Number 10 said Tony Blair had briefed US President George Bush on the situation during the night

–All passengers were banned from taking hand luggage onto flights, while the government warned of delays

–Flights from Brussels Airport to London were cancelled until further notice

BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford said he did not think the police believed an attack was imminent.

“The reason for raising the threat level is in case there is some other sub-plot, back-up plot around this that the police aren’t aware of,” he said.

Scotland Yard said in a statement that their investigation into the alleged plot was a “major operation” which would be “lengthy and complex”.

“We would like to reassure the public that this operation was carried out with public safety uppermost in our minds.”

Prime Minister Tony Blair is on holiday in the Caribbean, but Downing Street said the police operation was undertaken with his full support and he had been “in constant touch”.

THREAT LEVEL

The current threat level is assessed as critical as of 10th August 2006 - this means that an attack is expected imminently and indicates an extremely high level of threat to the UK
MI5 statement

Transparent bags

The Department for Transport set out the details of the security measures at UK airports.

Passengers will not be allowed to take any hand luggage on to any flights in the UK, the department said.

Only the barest essentials - including passports and wallets - will be allowed to be carried on board in transparent plastic bags.

“We hope that these measures, which are being kept under review by the government, will need to be in place for a limited period only,” the statement said.

At Heathrow Airport, BBC presenter Fiona Bruce said there were “ranks of people” unable to get into the terminal.

“Terminal One is completely at a standstill. Nobody is being checked in at all.”

Passengers have to put any carry-on luggage in plastic bags

She said it was “jam-packed”, but passengers were managing to remain “good natured”.

BBC journalist Joe Lynam encountered the increased security measures at Gatwick airport.

“I was handed a piece of paper saying that pretty much nothing could be taken on board the plane,” he said.

“Everything had to be checked in and that includes mobile phones, ipods, wallets - even spectacle cases had to be checked in.”

British Airways said that passengers who do not wish to fly on Thursday can rebook on flights leaving over the next two weeks.

David Learmount from Flight International Magazine said he expected passengers to be searched much more carefully.

He added: “This is the first time this measure has actually been taken. Certainly I’ve never seen hand luggage banned.”

BN.ie

09/08/2006 - 15:45:40

A former police detective-turned-whistleblower on collusion between loyalists and the RUC has said ombudsman searches at his home will deter other police officers from speaking out.

Former CID detective Johnston Brown said the message being sent out by the raid is that anyone who speaks out against collusion will be targeted.

Retired senior detective Johnston Brown, who wrote a book called Into The Dark about his time in the RUC, was on holiday when he heard about the raid on his home.

He said that and a similar one at the home of another former detective, Trevor McIlwrath, who has also spoken out, will discourage others, at least a dozen, he said, who are considering telling what they know about collusion between Special Branch and loyalists.

He said the ombudsman’s office is not the proper vehicle for rooting out those within Special Branch whom he calls “criminals” and that he now expects to be arrested when he returns home.

BBC

Former RUC detective Johnston Brown has been arrested at Belfast International Airport.

Mr Brown was returning from holiday when he was met by investigators from the Police Ombudsman’s office.

It is part of an inquiry by the ombudsman into the RUC’s investigation of the UVF murder of Raymond McCord Junior in 1997.

Two other former detectives arrested on Wednesday morning were released without charge.

One of the officers arrested was former CID detective Trevor McIlwrath.

Police Ombudsman investigators questioned them over allegations of perverting the course of justice and misconduct in public office.

Two premises were also searched by the investigators, the Police Ombudsman’s office said.

Mr McCord, 22, was beaten to death by members of the UVF and his body left at a quarry in Newownabbey.

It has been claimed that at least one of those responsible for the McCord murder was working for police Special Branch at the time and this led to a major investigation by Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan.

It is understood the investigation, which has been going on for several years, has mushroomed into a wider inquiry involving police intelligence-gathering methods and the use of informers.

The ombudsman’s investigation also includes the UVF murder of Sharon McKenna in north Belfast in 1992.

The 27-year-old Newtownabbey taxi driver was shot in the sectarian attack at the home of an elderly friend whose dinner she was making.

An interim report has already been submitted to the Public Prosecution Service and a report is expected to be published next month.