SAOIRSE32

BBC
22 Sept 2008

**Video onsite

Loyalist paramilitary Michael Stone has denied trying to kill the Sinn Fein leadership.

He said the day he tried to force his way into Stormont was simply “an act of performance art”.

The 53-year-old burst into Parliament Buildings allegedly carrying explosives and a replica gun in November 2006.

Stone faces 13 charges at Belfast Crown Court, all of which he denies, including trying to kill Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.

Stone was speaking as he began giving evidence in his trial.

Rather than trying to wreck the peace process, Stone said he had been trying to help the peace process by staging an art-based protest at the political deadlock that existed at the time.

The convicted triple murderer was released early under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

He had been jailed for life for a 1988 gun and grenade attack on the republican funeral of three IRA members shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar.

Stone told the court his actions were intended to “put a proverbial rocket up the backsides” of the politicians.

“I’m destroying the iconography of Michael Stone, loyalist hero,” he said.

“It’s a comic parody of my former self. I would rather be remembered as an eccentric artist that got it wrong in performance art than for my past, when I did some terrible things.”

He told defence QC Orlando Pownall he did not intend to harm anyone, let alone Mr McGuinness, as “he would be the last man I would target because he was a security force asset”.

‘Symbolic’

Each item he was carrying had symbolic significance, he said, including a bird-shaped pair of scissors as a “begrudging” symbol of Irish republicanism rising from the flames, and a poppy badge on his jacket as a mark of respect for “fallen comrades”.

He said a sponge inside the butt of the fake gun was to symbolise the “sponging unionists”, the wire he had with him was for the “precarious path to peace and reconciliation,” harking back to a painting he gave to Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Stone told the court he tried to keep everything in a “monochrome pallet” - black, white or grey.

“The symbolism of that was as in life, not everything is black and white - my perceived attack is a grey area, that it was an attack of art, an artistic protest,” he said.

Even his clothing had its own symbolism, he said, including a pair of sunglasses, in that he had worn the same outfit in 1974 to a mass protest against the Sunningdale Agreement.

He said he wore a fisherman’s hat because Martin McGuinness’s alleged codename in the security forces was “the fisherman”.

“It was symbolic that had I been some sort of fanatical loyalist that McGuinness would have been the last man I targeted because he was a security force asset,” claimed Stone.

Asked if there would have been any symbolism if the flight bag had ignited, Stone said “no, there would not have been”.

The court was shown Stone’s impression of how his graffiti would have looked

He said that before travelling to Stormont, he dyed his hair and goatee beard so he would not look “overweight and grey-haired” in front of the world’s media and press gathered for the day’s events.

Stone said he was a “very political person” who “fully supported” the peace process and devolution but was anxious about the political vacuum being caused by Sinn Fein and the DUP, fearing the impasse could cause a “return to the bad old days”.

He said he had planned to do something “perhaps a year and a half” before 24 November 2006 but only came up with the plan of “performance art work” around six weeks in advance.

‘Props’

He claimed his plan was to daub political graffiti on the walls of the building, to leave the nail bombs, which he called “props,” at the base of each column and to use the “flash bang” device inside the flight bag to “clear the building”.

Asked by his defence lawyer if he had intended to hurt or injure anyone, Stone replied “no”.

When asked what he had hoped to achieve in the days after the incident, he said he wanted the politicians to ask “why?”

“Why has a man that signed up to to the Anglo-Irish, sorry, Good Friday Agreement, that when released for a year, promoted peace, why has he suddenly done the opposite?” he told the court.

The court was shown a large oil painting where Stone gave an impression of what his protest graffiti would have looked like had he not been disturbed by security staff.

He said the top of the painting was made to look like a circus tent as Stormont had previously been described as “a circus”.

Stone is due to be cross-examined by the prosecution on Tuesday.

BBC
22 Sept 2008

The trial of murder victim Michael McIlveen has heard one of his friends describe how he tried to fight off a group attacking the Ballymena teenager.

Michael McIlveen died after being attacked by a gang in May 2006

The court heard a tape of a police interview with the 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

He said one of the accused, Mervyn Wilson Moon from Douglas Terrace, who has admitted the murder charge, “nailed him with a baseball bat.”

Four others are accused of murdering the 15-year-old in May 2006.

One faces a lesser charge.

In the taped interview, Michael McIlveen’s friend told police how, as he fought off and held one attacker, another would take his place.

He said the boy was hit with the baseball bat, punched and kicked more than 60 times.

Charity crusade provides the inspiration for Miami Showband to reunite
Sunday Life
Sunday, 21 September 2008

Miami Showband massacre survivor Stephen Travers has told how an African charity crusade has inspired the group’s comeback.

One of the original Miami Showband members killed in a UVF loyalist terrorist massacre on 31/7/1975, survivor Stephen Travers took to the stage again as The Miami Showband reformed in Belfast

Stephen went to poverty-ravaged Tanzania during the summer to witness the work done by Children in Crossfire.

He described his trip as a “life-changing experience” which will make him appreciate every minute of his Miami reunion — their first tour for more than 30 years. Last Wednesday night they played at the Grand Opera House in Belfast.

Three members of the Miami Showband — Fran O’Toole, Tony Geraghty and Brian McCoy — were gunned down by the UVF on July 31, 1975 as they made their way home from a gig in Banbridge.

Stephen, now 57, was lucky to survive.

He said: “People were asking for a reunion of the band and we decided to do a tour, but we wanted to do the first two concerts for a charity.

“We wanted to give something back because there was great support from people all through the years and when we were raising funds for the Miami Showband monument in Dublin.

“So it was suggested to us by our promoter David Hull that we use it to raise money for Children in Crossfire.

“We wanted to do shows in Belfast and Dublin to unite the fanbase that we had years ago.

“It will show that the sound of the Miami has outlasted the sound of the guns that tried to kill us and drive a wedge between two great communities.

“That’s very important to me — the whole thing’s symbolic.”

Stephen met up with charity founder Richard Moore, who invited him to see the work of the organisation in east Africa.

Richard is also a victim of the Troubles. In 1972, aged just 10, the Londonderry man was blinded by a rubber bullet on his way from school.

Stephen said: “Richard’s such a charismatic man. I was immediately massively impressed and you feel very humble when you’re with him.

“My trip to Tanzania was a life-changing experience. Everything that’s ever happened to me in my life I’ve always treated as an adventure, whether it’s good or bad.

“The first day we were in Dar es Salaam and Richard took us to the Ocean Road Cancer Care centre for children, run by a young doctor from Wicklow called Trish Scanlon.

“We walked in the door and immediately this little boy walked over to me, a lovely little fella and he had a tumour the size of my fist on the side of his face.

“I immediately knew this was not about me. This was not my adventure; this is about these little kids.

“All these kids had cancer, from ages three and upwards, and there were far too many children there for the facility to work with.

“And you feel very quickly that you’re in the presence of greatness when you see the carers, the doctors, the volunteers — and especially Richard Moore.”

Stephen said he sees a link between the tragic scenes he witnessed in Africa and the 1975 atrocity that saw his three pals killed.

He said: “The connection is that a life is a life. To play with Fran O’Toole and Tony Geraghty was a real privilege.

“What I’m saying is that you see the potential in these people, and I was absolutely convinced that Fran and Tony had the potential to do amazing things in the world of music.

“But obviously their potential was never realised, it was just cut short.

“So ever after that you say to yourself ‘a life’s a life’ and the potential could in be a little boy in Africa who grows up to be Nelson Mandela or whatever. They could change the world.

“So you can just not afford this apathy and you can’t afford to say ‘let them die’.”

Now the band are set to follow up two fundraising gigs at the Grand Opera House in Belfast and a Dublin venue by going on tour for the first time since the 1975 atrocity.

The Ireland-wide comeback tour kicks off at the Braid Arts Centre, Ballymena in November before going right into the New Year.

Stephen and original band members Des Lee and Ray Millar are accompanied on stage by Horslips singer Johnny Fean as well as Gerry Brown, Barry Woods and Maurice Crum.

Stephen, from Carrick-On-Suir, Co Tipperary, said: “It’s been 30 years since the last tour and I’ll never say never to more after this.

“The fun and the banter and everything is fantastic, it’s great to be with everybody and we feel very comfortable together.

“We’re older, wiser — and maybe a little wider!

“It’s called the Joy to the World tour because of a record we did with the children of Hazelwood Integrated College, a cross-community school in Belfast. There is a lot of symbolism in these concerts and in the rest of the tour because we’ll continue to promote Children in Crossfire, we’re very committed to that.

“But also throughout the country it’s a case of telling people to come out and celebrate the fact that the music has lasted longer than the sound of the guns.”

BBC
22 Sept 2008

A woman held hostage during the £26.5m Northern Bank robbery has described how kidnappers sat on her back and held a gun to her head.

Karyn McMullan, the wife of Kevin McMullan, an assistant manager at the bank, wept in Belfast Crown Court.

She was speaking at the trial of Chris Ward, 26, of Colinmill, Poleglass, who denies taking part in the Belfast robbery in December 2004.

Mrs McMullan said two men posing as policemen called at their home.

She said they arrived at the door of their house in Loughinisland on the evening of Sunday 19 December 2004 at about 2145 GMT.

She said they claimed they wanted to talk to her husband about a car accident.

The men followed the couple into the lounge.

But as she went to comfort her husband, one of them grabbed him and put a gun to his head.

She said she then felt someone grab her from behind and press a gun to the back of her head.

“The policeman was saying; ‘If you co-operate no-body will get hurt,’” she told the court on Monday.

Mrs McMullan said one of the men then pushed her to the ground, sat on her back and told her to hold her hands out so that they could be tied.

She said she obeyed the order, telling the court: “I didn’t feel I had a choice, I had a gun to the back of my head.”

The men then turned off all the lights and questioned the couple about their home security, she said.

‘Taped up’

The court had to be adjourned for an early lunch as Mrs McMullan broke down again when she described how black tape was wound around a woollen hat and pulled over her face.

Mrs McMullan said the bogus policemen were initially going to blindfold her with the black tape.

“This horrified me,” she said.

The men allowed her to go to her bedroom to get a woollen hat, she said.

But as she dropped to her knees to pick it from a basket, the gunman appeared to panic. She realised he thought she had gone for a panic button.

She said the hat was pulled “right down to my chin, right below my chin”.

She became more distressed as she told the court: “Once they had the hat on, the policeman was holding me and the man with the tape proceeded to wind the tape round.”

As she did so, her breathing became laboured as she demonstrated, with circular motions about her head, how she was taped up.

Mr Ward further denies holding hostage his boss, Mr McMullan and his wife on a date between 18 and 21 December 2004.

The case continues.