SAOIRSE32

Belfast Telegraph
Thursday 14, February 2008

The people who murdered Andrew Burns are criminals hell bent on damaging society, Martin McGuinness said today.

The Stormont Deputy First Minister, speaking at the end of the British-Irish Council summit in Dublin, strongly rebuked those responsible for the brutal killing.

Mr Burns, 27 from Strabane, Co Tyrone, was shot twice in a church car park in Doneyloop on Tuesday night and his body was later dumped on a roadside close to the Border.

Gardai are investigating a possible link to dissident Republicans as well as other lines of inquiry.

Mr McGuinness said today: “We face a real threat from the activities of some people within our society.

“It was a dastardly deed. Absolutely despicable. It was carried out by people who have no regard for the community, for the government or law and order.

“That presents a real challenge to all of us.

“We have to give our wholehearted support to the Gardai and the PSNI. These people are criminals and are trying to damage our society in a way that is totally unacceptable to us as political leaders.‘’

BBC

Former IRA prisoner Danny Morrison’s bid to clear his name is to go to the Court of Appeal.

Morrison is a former director of publicity for Sinn Fein

He and Gerard Hodgkins were convicted of false imprisonment in 1991.

A court found the pair were involved in the false imprisonment of Sandy Lynch in Belfast for two days in Jaunary 1990.

Morrison was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment, Hodgkins received a ten-year jail term. Appeals by both men against conviction were dismissed.

Both subsequently submitted applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which has now referred both convictions to the Court of Appeal.

The commission’s reasons for referral have not been disclosed.

Danny Morrison is the best known of the two men - he is a former director of publicity for Sinn Fein - and the man who coined the phrase, ‘the armalite and the ballot box’.

By Noel McAdam
Thursday 14, February 2008
Belfast Telegraph

The UUP’s surprise victory in the Dromore by-election will be remembered as ” a St Valentine’s Day massacre for the DUP”, a senior Ulster Unionist declared today.

Transfers from MEP Jim Allister’s new hardline unionist group helped seal the shock DUP defeat in Northern Ireland’s first election test since the return of power-sharing at Stormont.

Former First Minister and UUP leader, David Trimble, described the victory as “a total vindication of the efforts we made over 10 years to improve the lot of the people in Northern Ireland”.

The UUP retained the Banbridge Council seat - vacated by the resignation of former Irish rugby international Tyrone Howe - by less than 70 votes.

The DUP finished ahead in first preference votes, but their candidate, Paul Stewart, was overhauled by Carol Black of the UUP when votes were transferred.

Mr Allister’s fledgling Traditional Unionist Voice took almost 20% of the first preference votes, finishing third, and their transfers to the UUP ended up eliminating the DUP.

A jubilant Mr Allister said: “It’s a very unhappy St Valentine’s Day for the Chuckle Brothers.”

As the shock result was relayed to DUP leader Ian Paisley, attending the second meeting of the British Irish Council since devolution in Dublin, senior party figures conceded they will have to carry out a rethink.

The result represents a sizable blow for the DUP which had up to half the vote in the last election in the Dromore area.

DUP Executive Minister, Edwin Poots, said: “This is an Ulster Unionist seat and the win was by a very fine margin, but there’s no doubt there is an underlying level of discontent.

“There was an element of a protest vote, but having said that the vast majority of unionist voters did transfer their votes so we do not regard those people as lost to us. There are people who still obviously have to be convinced.”

UUP deputy leader, Danny Kennedy, described the result as “a St Valentine’s Day massacre for the DUP”.

“This is a superb result for the Ulster Unionist Party. We were discounted, overlooked and sidelined but now the people have spoken,” he said.

Lord Trimble said he was “delighted but not really surprised” by the result.

“The fact is that DUP have embraced the policies we espoused - the same policies for which they vilified the UUP before they finally grasped power,” he added from the House of Lords after the Belfast Telegraph informed him of the outcome of the by-election.

“The people of Northern Ireland have watched Ian Paisley and his party embrace Republicans after so much criticism of the UUP who laid the foundations for a better Northern Ireland.

“Of course, we did business with Sinn Fein and SDLP, but we did it in a quieter and more unobtrusive manner.

“The result of this by-election is proof that we are right. DUP have not been able to fool all the people all of the time.

“The fair showing of Jim Allister’s group does not surprise me, but the bottom line is that the majority of people do not want to return to the old way.

“This, of course, could - and should - be a springboard for UUP to regroup and rebuild.”

Ulster police chief Sir Hugh and girlfriend are a picture of happiness

By Claire McNeilly
Friday, February 15, 2008
Belfast Telegraph

*I suppose you could call this ‘undercovers’ collusion, and it’s rather nauseating

This is the first picture of PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde stepping out with his new girlfriend and former mistress Denise Weston.

The happy couple were snapped enjoying a night on the tiles at the Flax Trust Super Bowl Ball at Belfast’s Europa Hotel.

Mother-of-two Ms Weston, dressed in a black, low-cut dress, and the tuxedo-clad top cop, were all smiles for the camera at the annual charity event.

Their public appearance comes just one year after newspaper disclosures that Sir Hugh (49) had a mistress and child - who is now two years old - in the south of England.

Until now Ms Weston’s name and face have not been revealed in the Northern Ireland media, over what Scotland Yard described as “serious security concerns.”

However, the Chief Constable allowed himself to be openly photographed with his lover, who is also a police officer, at the event last week.

In early 2007, the News of the World published embarrassing details about his three-year extra-marital relationship with the undercover Metropolitan police detective, who had worked on the Stevens Inquiry into collusion.

Although the revelations may have come as a shock, Sir Hugh’s wife of 22 years, Kathleen - with whom he has a 22-year-old son, Jonathan - stood by him amid public outcry.

And at the time, Sir Hugh said that his wife and family were “fully aware” of his affair, adding that his family was “supportive” .

Northern Ireland’s leading policeman also successfully weathered a storm of criticism from those who questioned his professional integrity, insisting that the affair was a private matter which had no bearing on his ability to do his job.

It also emerged that Sir Hugh had taken part in numerous fun runs with his lover - including the controversial Great North 10k run in Tyneside, in October 2006.

That race coincided with a major memorial service for fallen police officers at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall - an event attended by Lady Orde.

The chief constable’s absence sparked fury, particularly among members of the Police Federation, when it emerged that he had been running in England with his mistress instead.

Sir Hugh and the 42-year-old divorcee, who also has a seven-year-old daughter, are understood to have met when he was a deputy assistant commissioner in the Metropolitan Police where she was a detective constable.

Last September, just six months after the revelations about his private life, Sir Hugh admitted his marriage was over. He also said that Lady Orde had left their marital home in Crawfordsburn, Co Down, and moved back to England. Experts say that Sir Hugh is earmarked to take over from Sir Ian Blair, the current boss of the Met, when he steps down.