SAOIRSE32

BBC
02 October 2008

A witness in the trial of the five people accused of the murder of Michael McIlveen said he was able to identify one of the defendants.

Chrisptopher Graham, 19, told the jury he saw 22-year-old Christopher Francis Kerr walk along the alleyway where the Ballymena schoolboy was killed.

Mr Graham, whose home backs onto the alleyway, said he had also heard someone shout: “Do it Mervyn”.

Mervyn Wilson Moon, 20, has already pleaded guilty to a charge of murder.

He will be sentenced at the end of the trial.

Mr Graham said he had seen three boys at the top of the alleyway after walking his girlfriend to her mother’s car.

He said he returned to his home via the alleyway and saw another defendant, Jeff Colin Lewis, 19, fighting with Michael McIlveen.

Mr Graham told the court the fight only lasted “around 20 seconds” before they were pulled apart.

He said both boys walked off to talk, but then saw “people coming from the other end of the alleyway, around 10 to 15 people.”

The witness told the jury that even though the attack happened in the middle of the night, the alleyway and part of his garden were “light enough” because of street lamps in a neighbouring car park.

Mr Graham told the court he saw Kerr “walking towards me. He had his hood up but I could see his face” and that another defendant, Christopher McLeister, 18, was also there.

Aaron Cavana Wallace, 20, Jeff Colin Lewis, Christopher McLeister and a juvenile who cannot be named have denied murdering Michael McIlveen on 8 May, 2006.

The case continues.

Independent.ie
02 Oct 2008

Sixteen prison officers have been suspended from duty in Northern Ireland’s top-security Maghaberry Prison, it was announced today.

The suspensions came within the last 24 hours and amid an ongoing investigation into the death of an inmate in his cell in August.

But the Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS) said none of the suspensions were directly linked to the death and some of those suspended had not been on duty on the night the inmate died.

Another officer was suspended and charged with gross misconduct soon after the death.

A NIPS spokesman said all of the newly suspended warders will face charges.

The Prison Service recently announced the initiation of an internal investigation into its night guard arrangements at the prison following both management concerns and preliminary findings from the Prisoner Ombudsman arising from her investigation into the death in custody of Colin Bell on August 1.

A statement said today: “Arising from the preliminary findings of the internal investigation a further 16 night custody officers have been suspended from duty in accordance with Prison Service disciplinary procedures. This investigation remains ongoing.'’

It added: “Meanwhile the separate prisoner Ombudsman’s investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death in custody of Colin Bell is continuing.'’

Night custody officers are a new grade of prison staff introduced by the NIPS last year.

Colin Bell, 34, was found dead in his cell at the Co Antrim jail in the early hours of the morning - it is understood he hanged himself.

He was classed as a vulnerable prisoner who should have been kept under closer observation than normal.

Bell was jailed for life in 2004 after pleading guilty to murdering a man who died in a fire he started at a house in Bangor, Co Down.

He set fire to the premises to cover his tracks after a break-in while on a drink and drug binge celebrating his release from prison.

BY LAURA FRIEL
An Phoblacht
25 Set 2008

PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde has been told by a high court judge to hand over reports into the killing of Pearse Jordan. The IRA Volunteer was unarmed when an undercover unit of the RUC rammed the vehicle he was driving and shot him dead in 1992.
Reports by the investigating officer at the time have been requested by Coroner John Leckey. Leckey asked for the documents ahead of a reopening of the repeatedly-delayed inquest into the Jordan killing scheduled for early next year.
Following the coroner’s request, the PSNI chief constable sought a judicial review to block access to the documents but the application was turned down by Belfast High Court last week.
Presiding Judge Morgan ruled that the case presented on behalf of the chief constable was so weak that it held no prospect of success. Morgan rejected the PSNI’s application for a judicial review.
Lawyers acting for the PSNI insisted that the files of the investigating officer were irrelevant because they were based on an individual’s subjective analysis; the judge rejected their arguments. He said:
“Although each document contains matters of opinion, comment, assessment, conclusion and recommendations, it is clear that the detailed analysis of the relevant material is likely to be extremely helpful to the coroner in defining the issues which he can expect to emerge in the hearing of the inquest.
“There is no basis for limiting the information to which the coroner is entitled by reference to whether it is factual, opinion or assessment.”

TRUTH

Speaking after the ruling, Pearse’s father, Hugh, said it is yet another hurdle overcome in the battle to get the truth about his son’s death almost 16 years ago. The family, working with the support group Relatives for Justice, have already brought the case to court almost 130 times. Hugh Jordan said:
“Of course, as a family, after so many court hearings we feel drained but we want the record put straight. We want the truth and the support of our friends and neighbours, as well as Relatives for Justice has been invaluable.”
Mark Thompson of Relatives for Justice said it is scandalous that the Jordan family have had to go to court so many times to find out what happened to their son.
“The PSNI have tried everything to stop anything reflecting badly on the police getting out. That needs to stop and the files must be handed over.”
Hugh Orde has a week to decide whether to challenge last week’s high court ruling in the Court of Appeal.

News Letter
02 October 2008

THE outlawed Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) has issued a threat to the people who destroyed a plaque to its murdered leader Billy Wright on Mourneview estate in Lurgan recently, raising fears of a renewed loyalist feud in the mid-Ulster region.

In a statement issued to the media, the terror group warned that those who attacked the memorial would be made to account for their actions.

They also said those responsible must “contemplate their own fate and motives”.

The statement fuels speculation of a renewed power struggle within loyalism in the area, with the LVF seen as weakened in mid-Ulster.

Some some people have gone as far as to claim the group started by Wright is “finished” in the area and that people on the Mourneview estate are fed up with its activities.

The threats issued on Tuesday would seem to suggest the loyalist group is still in existence.

The statement said: “In response to the recent wanton destruction of the memorial plaque to brigadier Billy Wright, the LVF state publicly that we will not sit idly by while those who pose under the flag of loyalism hold our people to ransom.

“Those who wrongly chose to desecrate the memory of our beloved brigadier Billy Wright are swift to forget the principles and ideology which led him to take a stand for the beliefs he ultimately gave his life for.

“Forget not the heroic stance taken by many who vanquished the murderous threat of violent republicanism in mid-Ulster.”

Mid Ulster Mail
02 October 2008

ALMOST 50% of children in Mid-Ulster are living below the poverty line according to figures released this week.
The report from the Campaign to End Child Poverty - an umbrella organisation including Barnardo’s, UNICEF, Save The Children and the TUC - calculated data for each parliamentary constituency in the UK.

The figures reveal that 46% of children in Mid-Ulster live in low income families - those where no-one is working more than 16 hours a week or the family is receiving the full amount of Working Tax Credit.

A local spokesperson for Save The Children descibed the figures as ’shocking’ given the stability of Northern Ireland’s economy.

“We need to take action now,” the spokeswoman said. “We have been running a campaign with the help of other leading child poverty organisations such as Barnado’s and we took our appeal to Stormont last week and plan to hold a rally at Trafalgar Square in London this week.

“There is no excuse for so many children to be living in poverty here, we are one of the richest and most stable countries and we can do something about it.

“Statistics prove that the children born into poverty stricken homes are four times more likely to die before the age of 20. Their lives are limited and it’s about time these statistics were reversed.”

While it means that almost one in every two children in Mid-Ulster come from low income families, Belfast (West) has the highest percentage for Northern Ireland at 77%.

Neighbouring West Tyrone sits at 52% while Fermanagh and South Tyrone amounts to 49%.

Irish Times
02 Oct 2008

Taser guns were given the go-ahead by the Northern Ireland Policing Board today for use throughout the six counties.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland had been using the controversial electro-shock weapon under a pilot scheme but the Board’s move will allow chief constable Sir Hugh Orde to roll the deployment out fully.

The pilot scheme was introduced in January and the gun has been used on one occasion since then, in Derry in August.

The Board’s decision follows the recommendations of human rights experts who helped carry out an equality impact assessment on the use of Tasers.

Board members voted 12-3 in favour, with the three Sinn Fein representatives opposing the move. The republicans wanted the decision deferred until a forthcoming judicial review of the weapon’s use was heard.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) policing board member Peter Weir welcomed the move.

“Tasers are used by every police force in the British Isles, including the Gardai. They have rightly been recognised as a useful and valuable tool in the fight against crime,” he said.

“Considering the only circumstances in which Tasers can be deployed is when a police officer would ordinarily have to deploy a firearm, it seems entirely logical to support their introduction for use by the PSNI.

“Would the opponents of tasers rather that police officers were forced to use handguns in every situation where a taser should be used or perhaps they would

like to make it impossible for the police to use necessary and proportionate

force in order to defend innocent members of the public?”

BBC
01 Oct 2008

The life and times of a group of 18th century revolutionaries has been marked with a new work of public art which has gone on permanent display in Belfast.

The four paintings in the city’s Cathedral Quarter depict the history of the Society of United Irishmen - a movement co-founded by Wolfe Tone that sought to create an independent Ireland free from English rule in the 1790s.

They have been erected in the newly-restored Warehouse Lane in the Four Corners area where Belfast members of the society met in secret over 200 years ago, calling themselves the Muddlers Club.

Henry Joy McCracken parts with his sister Mary Ann at the gallows

Warehouse Lane, which links Waring Street and Exchange Place, marks the latest phase in the regeneration of the historic section of the city.

The artwork, by local painter Michael O’Neill, is part of the regeneration which later this month will see the opening of a new £15m hotel and a bar and restaurant.

Among the scenes captured in the paintings is one of Belfast United Irishman Henry Joy McCracken saying goodbye to his sister before being led to the gallows to be hung for his part in the 1798 rebellion.

Michael O’Neill said: “I was keen that the four paintings should reflect the breadth of thinking of the United Irishmen and their full legacy in the fields of knowledge, culture, radical liberalism and sheer human courage.

“At the heart of their thoughts and actions lay love of their fellow countrymen and a desire for equality.”

Thomas Russell and friends study the first issue of the Northern Star newspaper

The paintings, two of which will be illuminated at night, were unveiled by Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie.

“The regeneration of this historic Four Corners site and the commissioning of this art is another excellent example of how the private sector can work with government to deliver top quality development in a very important part of Belfast’s city centre,” Ms Ritchie said.

“This art, Warehouse Lane, the Premier Inn hotel and the 4 Corners Bar and Restaurant that will open on this site in the coming weeks, are a further sign that the heart of this city can once again be vibrant and dynamic, not just during the day, but in the evenings also.”

The regeneration of the historic area was a private sector undertaking led by developer Durnien.com.

Managing director Paul Durnien said: “This building is significant in terms of Belfast history and is best known as the point from which all milestones out of Belfast were once measured. The building had been vacant for around 15 years and was in a very poor state when work began.

“The architect, Colin Conn, who is best known for his work on the Spire at St Anne’s Cathedral, worked with us to create a development that would transform this gateway to the Cathedral Quarter, inject vitality into the area and preserve the unique character of the building by retaining the front facades on Donegall Street.

“When speaking to Michael O’Neill about commissioning a piece of public art for the development, it was clear from the outset that there was a need for art that would capture the historical significance of this area.

“Michael has achieved just this and his four paintings will be permanently displayed in Warehouse Lane for local people and tourists to enjoy.”

Thomas Russell and Edward Bunting meet Mary Ann McCracken

Henry Joy McCracken was tried for treason on 17 July 1798 and hanged in Cornmarket in Belfast on the same day.

His sister, Mary Ann, had a doctor standing by in case there was still life in the body after it was cut down, but the move was in vain.

McCracken was buried at St George’s Church in High Street, but his remains were later transferred to the Clifton Street cemetery a short distance away.

Henry Joy McCracken was born in High Street, Belfast on 31 August 1767.

A member of a prominent Presbyterian family, he was interested in radical politics from an early stage and in 1791 he joined with Thomas Russell and others to form the first Society of United Irishmen in Belfast.

The founders, claiming to be The Muddlers Club, secretly formed the society in Peggy Barclay’s Tavern in Sugarhouse Entry, a narrow passageway between High Street and Waring Street that was destroyed by the German Luftwaffe during a bombing raid in the spring of 1941.

Composed mainly of Presbyterians, the aims of the society were initially constitutional - a union of all Irishmen to counter English influence, a radical reform of Parliament and the inclusion in that Parliament of people of all religious persuasions.

However, by 1795 government repression had changed a party of constitutional reformers into a society of determined revolutionaries.

In 1796 McCracken was imprisoned for over a year in Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin.

When the insurrection broke out in June 1798, he was made general of the forces mustered at Donegore, which then attacked Antrim town.

They were defeated by government troops and, after a month on the run, McCracken was captured in Carrickfergus while trying to escape to America.