Embarrassing collapse of a high-profile case
Belfast Telegraph Crime Correspondent Jonathan McCambridge assesses the impact of the Johnston affair
31 August 2006
The probe into alleged money laundering threatened to embrace the worlds of business, politics and paramilitaries.
In April last year police carried out an array of high-profile raids - creating the impression that a house of cards was about to fall.
The first arrest was ex-UDA godfather Jim Gray. Just days after he was ousted as a “brigadier”, he was arrested and charged with possessing and concealing criminal property.
While there was little shock in Gray’s, arrest days later came the bombshell arrest of a businessman. Philip Johnston, who ran a chain of estate agents employing 40 staff, was charged with money laundering and spent several days in custody.
Police opposed his first bail application because, they claimed, he “may obstruct the course of justice”. The probe widened further when detectives searched the premises of UUP MLA Michael Copeland. No charges followed this operation.
The raids were linked to a probe into alleged money laundering. Any trial based on charges against a UDA boss and a respected estate agent would have been one of the most spectacular in Ulster’s legal history - had it ever happened.
Gray was murdered in east Belfast. The case against Johnston continued. Then yesterday, all charges were dropped.
Police last night refused to comment but the decision is a blow to its prestige.
Significant resources were deployed, and if there is to be no end product, senior officers can expect uncomfortable questions from the Policing Board.
