SAOIRSE32

Belfast Telegraph

By Lesley-Anne Henry
Monday 10, December 2007

Policing watchdog, Al Hutchinson has become the first Police Ombudsman to address a Sinn Fein conference.

Mr Hutchinson, who succeeded Nuala O’Loan, told delegates at last night’s conference in Dublin that an effective police accountability system was essential to securing community confidence in policing.

He said: ” Police officers do a difficult job, but they are given significant powers in order to perform their duties.

“On occasion, members of the public will be concerned about the ways in which police use those powers. On other occasions they may be concerned at a perceived lack of action by officers.

“It is vital that there is a body to deal with those concerns. The community can have confidence that allegations of misconduct against police officers will be fully independently and impartially investigated by my office.

“Police officers can also be confident that allegations made against them will be investigated fairly, and that our investigations will be entirely evidence-based,” he said.

Mr Hutchinson revealed that his office enjoyed high levels of cross-community support in Northern Ireland with 88% of Protestants and 84% of Catholics believing it is fair and 87% of Catholics and 78% of Protestants stating that it helps to improve policing.

“In addition 85% of officers who have been investigated by my office say they were treated fairly. These are solid foundations on which to build for the future,” he said.

BBC

A Belfast property developer has denied that he or his company are linked to IRA money laundering.

Peter Curistan is taking legal action after the Sheridan Group was dropped as the preferred developer of public lands in the centre of Belfast.

His lawyers said a probe into the accounts of his firm was poisoned by baseless accusations.

A three-day legal challenge into the Department for Social Development decision has begun in the High Court.

Sheridan was the preferred developer for the huge Queen’s Quay riverside project.

Mr Curistan was the subject of claims made by DUP MP Peter Robinson under parliamentary privilege in February last year.

He has challenged Mr Robinson to repeat these allegations outside the House of Commons.

‘Quality projects’

His lawyer told Monday’s hearing that the businessman had been prepared to throw open the company books in order to receive a clean bill of health.

“Neither Sheridan nor Mr Curistan have anything to fear. Rather they have everything to gain from lifting the cloud of suspicion that then descended upon them,” said the lawyer.

“No investigation was carried out by the Department for Social Development or (co-respondents) Laganside Corporation and consequently Sheridan had everything to fear.

“If the risk remained that Sheridan was laundering dirty IRA money then the government in general and the department would become complicit in a criminal enterprise.”

He told Mr Justice Gillen that Belfast’s Odyssey complex was just one of a number of developments which proved the firm’s ability to deliver quality, ambitious projects.

By Lisa Smyth
Belfast Telegraph
Monday 10, December 2007

An advert appealing for help in finding missing Lisa Dorrian is to be moved to a new location after it was removed by the Roads Service.

The billboard, carrying a direct message to the killers of the pretty 25-year-old shop worker, had been placed on the side of the main Belfast to Bangor carriageway.

However, after businesses began to place their own advertisements next to the Lisa Dorrian billboard, a decision was made to move it.

Lisa’s sister, Michelle Dorrian, said the family plans to relocate the billboard elsewhere in the future.

She said: ” We’re not actually sure where it is going to go or when but we will be going back out. It’s just important that we keep the campaign in the public eye.”

As well as the billboard campaign, beer mats and bathroom adverts have also distributed in pubs in Bangor on Saturday night to highlight the family’s plight.

Lisa’s mum, Patricia, has repeatedly described the importance of giving her daughter a Christian burial and has even said that it would be preferable to seeing the people who murdered Lisa behind bars.

Detectives believe that a small number of people in Bangor, Newtownards and Rathcoole know what happened to the 25-year-old, who disappeared in the early hours of February 28, 2005 from a caravan at Ballyhalbert, Co Down

Although they said no decisions have been made about a new location for the billboard or when it will, it is important to keep the campaign in the public eye.

Despite extensive searches, arrests and inquiries Lisa’s body has never been found.

Last month, a coroner’s court inquest into Lisa’s death was put on hold.

Police asked for the hearing to be delayed because of the ongoing investigation into her murder in February 2005. Her body has never been recovered.

The inquest had been due to take place in Belfast, but police intervened to postpone it.

A PSNI spokesman said at the time: “This remains a live investigation and it would not be in its interests to hold an inquest at this time.”

No date has been set for a new hearing, but it is not expected to take place until next year at the very earliest.

A spokeswoman from the DRD said: “The Lisa Dorrian sign was placed on an adopted road on a lay-by on the Sydenham bypass in contravention of Article 87 of the Roads Order 1993.

“The sign trailer was removed to safe storage within a Roads Service depot by the department’s staff.”

Martin Morgan
Irelandclick
12/07/2007

In the north the period known as the ‘Troubles’ brought untold suffering for thousands of people from all walks of life. No reasonably minded person could ever excuse the brutality that was inflicted upon the communities across these two islands, whether the perpetrators were paramilitary gangsters or the state security forces.
Most of the people who died or were injured more than likely had nothing to do with any strong political belief or held any particularly strong views on anything.
Most of those who carried out the acts of terror were nothing less than thugs who had nothing better to do other than live out their own war games at everyone else’s expense.
Many of those who were murdered, injured, harassed and intimidated suffered at the hands of the security forces, be it the old RUC, British Army, Army Intelligence, MI5 or the UDR.
The RUC and the UDR were home grown and in particular the UDR was seen by the vast majority within the Catholic community as nothing short of a paramilitary army, whose origins lay with the disbandment of the B Specials and the outbreak of the ‘Troubles’.
The UDR could not be described as a normal army regiment. Many members of the regiment were guilty of heinous crimes against the community particularly Catholics. Many were found guilty of these crimes in the courts and many literally got away with murder, all in all this regiment could not then and most certainly could not now command the respect of Nationalists and Republicans.
The UDR was to all intents and purposes a home guard unit used by the British Army as a tactic to protect its flank in the north.
It was correct that this unit was disbanded. It is not correct that two million pounds of taxpayers’ money should be directed to its former personnel in respect of benevolent support, job training and welfare related issues. If they need medical care then they can get into line in the NHS waiting lists.
It is wrong of a senior soldier to state that the resources set aside for the UDR/RIR is an acknowledgement of the debt owed by this society.
It is in fact the British Army and the UDR who owe significant debts to the people of the north for all of the hurt and heartache that many members of those organisations caused to the Catholic community in the north of Ireland.
In fact I believe that all identifiable assets of the paramilitary organisations and their supporters as well as those State organisations that brought terror to our streets should be confiscated and the monies should be directed to victim support programmes in the north.
The people of the north owe nothing to the thugs who brought heartache and shame to the north. None of them are heroes; they are all cowards who enjoyed playing war games at the expense of the lives of everyone in the north of Ireland.

Newshound

(by Suzanne Breen, Sunday Tribune)

The family of murdered south Armagh man, Paul Quinn, have said they are deeply dissatisfied with the response of Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, to their son’s death.

The Quinns were speaking to the Sunday Tribune after receiving a letter from Adams whom they accused of criminalising their son and adding to their grief.

Quinn, 21, from Cullyhanna, was lured to a farm near Oram, Co Monaghan, where he was beaten to death by up to eight men with iron bars and nail-studded cudgels in October.

Republican sources told the Sunday Tribune that the attack was ordered by the ‘officer commanding’ the Provisional IRA in south Armagh and approved by an army council member from the area. Quinn had been involved in several confrontations with Provisional IRA-related figures and their associates.

Sinn Féin has described the murder as a falling out between “criminals” and “fuel-launderers”. In a letter to Quinn’s parents, Stephen and Briege, Adams expressed his condolences over the “dreadful murder” which he said deserved “the strongest condemnation”.

Anyone with information should contact the Police Service of Northern Ireland or gardai and no effort should be spared in ensuring those responsible faced “due process”, he said.

However, Adams continued: “I note from some press reports that Paul’s father is reported as accusing me of ‘blackening’ your son’s name with allegations of criminality.

“I wish to assure you that at no point have I said anything which should be misconstrued in this way. In my remarks to the media after his murder, I said that, in my view, his death was linked to fuel-smuggling involving criminals.”

Paul Quinn’s father Stephen said: “Gerry Adams’ words offer our family no comfort, indeed they have increased our distress. Far from withdrawing his party from the position that our son was a criminal, he has actually reinforced that position and repeated the allegations. Paul was not a criminal and his murder had nothing to do with criminality.”

In his letter, Gerry Adams told the Quinns he was confident there was “no republican involvement” in their son’s murder. Stephen Quinn said: “We strongly challenge that.The world and his wife know that our son’s murder was Provisional IRA linked. Gerry Adams’ denial is unbelievable. We want the truth about what happened to our son and we won’t be going away until we get it.”

Over 200 people attended a meeting of the Quinn support group in Cullyhanna last week. Another meeting is due to be held in Crossmaglen on Thursday night.

December 10, 2007
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This article appeared in the December 9, 2007 edition of the Sunday Tribune.

BBC

Members of the Miami Showband murdered by loyalists in 1975 are to be commemorated with a memorial in Dublin.

The last photograph of the showband before the attack. Photo courtesy of Irish Showband Archive

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will unveil a monument to the band outside the National Ballroom in Parnell Square North in a lunchtime ceremony.

It will be in memory of band members, Tony Geraghty, Fran O’Toole and Brian McCoy who were shot dead by a UVF gang at Buskhill, Newry.

The attack happened after their van was stopped at a bogus checkpoint.

While the band members were lined up outside, two UVF men attempted to plant a bomb in the van.

It exploded prematurely killing the would-be bombers. The rest of the gang then opened fire on the band members, killing three of them.

‘During the 60s and 70s showbands were without a doubt the most effective fighting force against sectarianism on this island’.
–Stephen Travers

Survived attack

Two surviving members of the band, Des McAlea and Stephen Travers, will attend the unveiling of the memorial.

Mr Travers said it was a fitting way to remember his bandmates.

“We mustn’t forget that during the 60s and 70s showbands were, without a doubt, the most effective fighting force against sectarianism on this island,” he said.

Three band members were shot dead after a van bomb exploded

“They were a great antidote to the poison of the bigots and the evil of the people who tried to drive a wedge between the communities.”

Margaret Irwin from the Dublin-based victims’ group, Justice for the Forgotten, has campaigned for the memorial.

“It is going to be a very important event for the families who have looked forward to this for quite a long time,” she said.

“It is reinforced by the fact that members of the families will travel from Canada and from South Africa.”

The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Paddy Bourke, will accompany the taoiseach at the unveiling of the limestone, bronze and granite piece created by Donegal artist Redmond Herrity.

The event will also include an inter-denominational prayer service led by Father Brian D’Arcy and the Reverend Robert Dean, a Church of Ireland Minister from Swords.

Newshound

(Seamus McKinney, Irish News)

The INLA bombing of the Droppin Well bar in Co Derry in 1982 was almost called off at the eleventh hour.

A day before the attack, which was to claim the lives of six civilians and 11 British soldiers, an INLA member and his girlfriend were ordered to pick up a charger for the bomb from a safe house in Buncrana in Co Donegal.

When they arrived from Derry, they found nothing had been left for them. The operation was almost abandoned but later that Sunday the INLA man decided to return to the town and this time the charger was ready.

He took the device back to Derry where the bomb was being made.

Small by standards of the time, it is believed to have consisted of 10 pounds of Frangex explosives.

The following night, Monday December 6, it was left beside a pillar at the Droppin Well bar in Ballykelly. When it exploded at 11.15pm, it collapsed the roof of the crowded bar, killing 17 people and injuring another 30.

Ballykelly had always been a garrison town. Just two miles from Limavady on the main Derry road, it was home to one of the biggest British army bases in the north with housing estates also providing married quarters behind security fencing.

The Droppin Well was selected because it was a known favourite for off-duty soldiers.

The huge loss of life ensured that 1982 was the first time the INLA killed more people than the Provisional IRA. The bombing also came after a long period of relative inactivity by the Derry INLA.

In claiming responsibility, the paramilitary group described the civilian women killed in the massacre as “consorts”.

In a statement the INLA said: “We believe that it is only attacks of such a nature that brings it home to the people in Britain and the British establishment. The shooting of an individual soldier, for the people of Britain, has very little effect in terms of the media or in terms of the British administration.”

It later emerged that the INLA may also have targeted Ballykelly because it believed it was part of Nato’s radar and communications network.

In June 1986 four people were jailed for life for the massacre while a fifth received a 10-year sentence.

Anna Moore (40) and her sister Helena Semple (29), from Derry’s Bogside, were given life sentences along with Semple’s partner Eamon Moore (25) and Patrick Shotter (40), who was the boyfriend of Anna Moore’s daughter Jacqueline Ann Moore (19).

Jacqueline Ann Moore was given a 10 years for manslaughter when the court accepted she had been forced into involvement.

In court Anna Moore revealed that the INLA had carried out reconnaissance missions to the Droppin Well to see if there were enough soldiers to justify the possibility of civilian casualties.

December 8, 2007
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This article appeared first in the December 6, 2007 edition of the Irish News.

By Ciaran McGuigan
Sunday Life
Sunday, December 09, 2007

A callous killer who gunned down a man while his victim’s 11-year-old daughter looked on has failed in his brazen attempt to win compensation for a breach of his human rights.

William John Mullan (59) remains behind bars after his licence was revoked in the wake of a botched loyalist attempt to carry out a violent bank robbery.

But that didn’t stop him going to the High Court - and then the Court of Appeal - asking to be compensated out of the public purse because it took so long for a panel to decide he was a menace to society.

Mullan (above) was put back behind bars after he was arrested when cops swooped on a UDA gang about to kidnap a bank official just over three years ago.

The loyalist killer had been freed on licence a decade earlier after serving 14 years of a life sentence for the brutal UFF murder of a man in north Belfast. Mullan was part of a two-man loyalist death squad who called at the Oldpark home of William James Carson in April 1979. When they discovered their victim was not at home, they coldly sat and watched TV with his 11-year-old daughter until he arrived.

They then gunned him down as the horrified little girl looked on.

While on licence, he was one of five loyalists - including exiled Alan McClean, a crony of the Shoukri brothers - arrested when cops foiled a UDA plot to rob the First Trust Bank in 2004. And while on remand for his alleged part in the ‘tiger kidnapping’, Mullan’s life licence was revoked.

Although charges against him were dropped in relation to the foiled bank plot, Mullan was still regarded as a danger to the public and the decision to send him back to jail was upheld.

Last week his brazen bid for compensation - claiming the decision had been in breach of his human rights - was thrown out of the Court of Appeal.

Lord Chief Justice Sir Brian Kerr ruled that the Life Sentence Review Commissioners’ had acted lawfully when they revoked Mullan’s licence.

He added, however, that the failure of the LSRC to review the legality of the detention until June 2007 was in breach of Mullan’s rights, but that he was not entitled for any compensation.

By Stephen Breen
Sunday Life
Sunday, December 09, 2007

The father of murdered Bangor woman Lisa Dorrian last night spoke of his family’s pain and torment during the festive season.

John Dorrian - who has vowed to step up the search for his daughter in 2008 - has pleaded with anyone who knows the whereabouts of his daughter’s body to come forward before Christmas.

This will be the heartbroken family’s third Christmas without Lisa.

The Co Down man told how Christmas Day will just seem like any other day to his family. Although they have not been thinking about Christmas, the family will still do their best to make it special for Lisa’s 11-year-old sister Ciara, and nephew Ryan (7).

Said John: “There will be an empty space at our table and in our hearts this Christmas, and we can’t believe it. It’s almost been three years and they have been a living hell.

“Once again, we will all wake up on Christmas morning with the same questions that we have had for almost three years - ‘Where is Lisa?’ and ‘what have these evil people done with her?’

“Lisa loved this time of year and we had a great time the Christmas before she was taken from us. Little did we know that it would be the last Christmas we would ever spend with her.

“It will be hard on Christmas Day, but we will have to put on a brave face for the kids.”

He added: “All we want is someone to tell us where she is so we can have a grave to go to. Is this too much to ask at this time of year?

“Our pain is getting worse the longer this goes on. That’s why, at Christmas, I’m pleading with these people to tell us where she is. All it takes is a phone call.

“We know the suspects have brothers and sisters, and if they could only imagine what we are going through.”

The dad-of four also told how people from around the world had been moved after Sunday Life revealed how the family marked 1,000 days since Lisa’s disappearance on November 25 by making a fresh appeal for information.

One posting read: “I hoped that paper went into every home and I hope someone somewhere reads the article and says ‘enough is enough’.

“I just hope one day the Sunday Life will be able to report on Lisa being returned to her nearest and dearest. With continued media coverage there will be no escape from their consciences for those who have the vital information to bring closure to the family.”

Added Mr Dorrian: “The reaction we got to the marking of 1,000 days since Lisa’s disappearance was fantastic and we can’t thank people enough.

“They came from all over the world and it’s great to know that people haven’t forgotten about us after all this time.”

In the days since Lisa’s disappearance, the family have also received support from Snow Patrol, Donny Osmond and launched major advertising campaigns in their crusade for justice.

Newshound

(Barry McCaffrey, Irish News)

The British government will next week seek a gagging order banning a Belfast court from identifying a leading dissident republican as a top security-force agent.

Earlier this year Paddy Murray (44) publicly rubbished speculation that he had been taken into protective custody by police after coming under suspicion of being an agent.

In recent years he has been a prominent spokesman for dissident republicans, arranging a series of controversial band parades in Ballymena, Co Antrim.

However, the government is taking the highly unusual step of seeking a Public Interest Immunity Certificate to prevent Murray from being identified as one of its top agents.

Murray first came under suspicion after police uncovered a Real IRA bomb factory in Ballymena in February 2005.

Four men and a woman were charged with possession of incendiary devices after a house on the Fisherwick estate was raided. Murray was arrested but later released without charge.

Earlier this year the Police Ombudsman was asked to investigate a complaint that police had protected Murray from being charged in connection with the bomb factory. It was claimed that police deliberately withheld evidence that Murray had supplied bomb timers to the Real IRA gang days before a planned attack and that his DNA was found on two incendiary devices recovered during the raid.

Last month when Murray appeared in court on separate kidnapping and assault charges he was accompanied by two police officers.

Despite being freed on bail he openly walked back into police custody.

A private court hearing will take place in Belfast on Tuesday during which a judge will be asked to grant a certificate banning any details of Murray’s alleged role as a security-force agent being revealed in the forthcoming Real IRA bomb trial.

In the past such certificates have only been granted in high-profile cases where it is claimed that Britain’s national security would be put in danger if evidence is disclosed in open court. They can only be issued if a British government minister can convince a judge that national security would be put at risk.

In the past they have been used to prevent the identification of key informers, police officers and soldiers involved in some of the most controversial killings of the Troubles.

In 2000 the then defence minister, Geoff Hoon, issued certificates to prevent security-force agents and their military handlers from being identified at the Bloody Sunday Tribunal.

December 9, 2007
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This article appeared first in the December 8, 2007 edition of the Irish News.

By Stephen Breen
Sunday Life
Sunday, December 09, 2007

Diehard republicans have vowed to kill Sinn Fein councillors over their support for district policing partnerships.

The Irish Republican Liberation Army (IRLA) has ordered the party’s DPP members to quit their positions before Christmas or face “military action”.

A spokesman for the terror group - which has former IRA and INLA men within its ranks - also vowed to step up its campaign of violence in 2008.

Our exclusive pictures of the newly-formed dissident republican gang were taken at a secret location in Belfast.

They include a masked terrorist brandishing an AK-47 assault rifle.

Said the IRLA leader: “All Sinn Fein members in the North have 14 days to resign from the DPPs or military action will be taken against them.

“This is a direct response to the Sinn Fein leadership inviting police into republican west Belfast.

“The present strategy of the Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness is not the way forward. We believe we are the way forward.

“We are going to step up our campaign through the use of armed struggle and we intend to mount attacks against the Crown forces in the six counties. We were established to end British rule in Ireland and defend the six counties against British imperialism.”

The sinister threats were issued after Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde told the Policing Board last week that renegade republican weaponry had become ” more sophisticated”.

The IRLA were responsible for issuing death threats against top Sinn Fein members, including veteran republican Martin Meehan’s widow Briege, last month.

North Belfast Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly said republicans were taking the threats seriously.

He said: “There is anger within the community over the fact that people like Briege Meehan are being targeted.”

The group also claimed responsibility for the murder bid on a police officer in Dungannon, but this was later dismissed by the Real IRA.

Security sources believe the new terror group’s stronghold is in north Belfast.

BBC

5 Dec 2007

Sinn Fein councillors in Strabane have been unable to fill their positions on the area’s District Policing Partnership.

The party was entitled to five places, but could only find three candidates willing to take part.

The two spare posts were offered to DUP councillors hours before the deadline for nominations expired on Tuesday.

The inability to fill the positions followed weeks of internal wrangling within Sinn Fein.

Sinn Fein West Tyrone MP Pat Doherty said he was disappointed the party’s group on Strabane District Council did not to reach agreement on its full complement.

“Sinn Fein is fully committed to engaging with all of the policing structures,” he said.

“I am confident that right across the north we will continue to provide constructive leadership in ensuring accountable policing that serves people in the communities we represent.”

News Letter
10 December 2007

REPUBLICAN splinter group the Irish Republican Liberation Army, has threatened to kill Sinn Fein members over the party’s support for District Policing Partnerships.
The IRLA has ordered Sinn Fein’s DPP members to quit the bodies before Christmas or face being targeted.

The group, which is thought to be made up of former IRA and INLA members, made its threat during a display of weapons held at a secret location in west Belfast.

Members brandished handguns and an AK47 assault rifle.

A spokesman told reporters: “All Sinn Fein members in the north have 14 days to resign from the DPPs or military action will be taken against them.

“This is a direct response to the Sinn Fein leadership inviting police into republican west Belfast.”