SAOIRSE32

4ni.co.uk
08 October 2008

The campaigning dad of murdered loyalist Billy Wright is facing further frustration today as news emerges that the official Inquiry into the prison murder of his son has been forced to postpone hearing evidence from the police.

It is understood the police failed to hand over information from a joint army and RUC Special Branch surveillance operation against the INLA in 1997.

It is believed the decision to kill Billy Wright was taken at one of the meetings secretly monitored during that period.

Serving and former police officers were due to be questioned about this operation at the inquiry in November.

But the Inquiry Chairman Lord MacLean announced on Monday that their questioning has been postponed because of “unexpected and unavoidable delays”.

Lord MacLean said the inquiry would continue its work and he hoped to hear the police evidence early next year.

Billy Wright was shot dead in December 1997, killed by three INLA inmates, who were housed in the same H Block of the prison.

At an earlier hearing the Inquiry revealed that a police informer was suspected of smuggling a gun to one of Wright’s killers, Christopher ‘Crip’ McWilliams, in prison sometime before the murder.

In January, a report detailed the PSNI’s inability to produce some evidence, and other major gaps in intelligence, including reports on the surveillance of known INLA leaders who were suspected of the plot, was revealed.

The Security Service, along with the Army, had been seeking a restriction notice to prevent some documents being made public, while the in Inquiry was reluctant to do so.

They reached a compromise in which the evidence will be summarised and the original documents will not be produced.

The inquiry had been plagued by significant gaps in the documentary evidence, including the destruction of thousands of prison files. The Maze security files on Wright and two of his killers are among the missing documents.

By Brendan McDaid
Belfast Telegraph
Wednesday, 8 October 2008

The mother of deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness was today described as “a woman of substance” and a patriot with a deep faith as she was laid to rest.

Hundreds of dignitaries, politicians, neighbours and friends of Peggy McGuinness and her family packed into the Long Tower Church in the Bogside area this morning for her funeral Mass.

Mrs McGuinness died at 7am on Monday at her Elmwood Street home following a short illness. She was 84.

Sinn Fein MLAs for Foyle have paid tribute to the woman this week, describing her as a life-long republican, while SDLP leader Mark Durkan described her as a “very kindly woman with real charm”.

Speaking at her funeral in St Columba’s chapel, the Rev Roland Colhoun said: “At this morning’s requiem we honour with Christian burial Peggy McGuinness, a very good woman who had a profound understanding of life and death, a woman who knew that this life is merely a preparation for death and new life.

“Born and reared in Buncrana, she has spent a lifetime in Derry. Coming from a family of nine, a very talented person, she worked hard all her days, reared a family of seven, with 21 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren to be proud of.”

Fr Colhoun said Mrs McGuinness had shown “tremendous tenacity” in her approach to life, adding that with “constant determination she put her family first in her heart and in her home”.

He said: “Her neighbours too speak of her many thoughtful deeds, showing constant consideration for them.

“This generosity was the fruit of her deep faith and well-practised Sacramental life, the reward of which was receiving Absolution just hours before she died.

“A widow for 35 years, Peggy accepted any hardship that came her way. Because she was kindly all her life, her gentle approach to sickness was a natural subsequence. Peggy’s sickness was very recent but she accepted it.”

Mrs McGuinness was due to be laid to rest this afternoon at St Mary’s Church Cemetery, Cockhill, in her native Buncrana.

BBC
07 Oct 2008

Journalist Martin O’Hagan’s murder was a “professional assassination” carried out because of his reports on loyalist paramilitaries, a court has been told.

The 51-year-old Sunday World reporter was shot dead as he walked home from a pub in Lurgan with his wife in 2001.

Prosecution lawyers told a bail hearing a witness saw smouldering remains of clothes allegedly worn by the killers.

Details emerged as bail was granted to one of the men charged with murder, Nigel Leckey, 43, of Bowens Lane.

A prosecution lawyer said it was alleged that the accused had stored the car used by the killers.

“The motive behind it appears to be the investigative work which was carried out by Mr O’Hagan and, in particular, the criticisms he had aired in the newspaper in respect of local loyalist paramilitaries in the immediate area in which he lived,” he said.

The court heard how a series of arrests carried out last month were based on information a man identified as Witness A gave to police more than a year ago.

Witness A claims that on his return from holiday on the night of the murder, one of the co-accused telephoned him to arrange a meeting the following morning.

According to Witness A, the suspect told him he had lost control of the car following the shooting and wanted him to help pick up any debris from the scene.

He also claimed they then went to a yard used by Mr Leckey, who told them he had washed the car.

Opposing bail, the prosecution lawyer said Witness A was not part of any protection scheme.

He added that the family of another co-accused had left Northern Ireland amid fear of retribution at what was revealed during his police interviews.

A defence lawyer rejected arguments that Mr Leckey may flee if released, saying he had a business of 20 years standing to run and close ties with the local community.

Mr Justice McLaughlin said that while all killings were dreadful, this had been a particularly notorious murder.

The judge added that Mr Leckey’s release was being resisted because “this was a particularly abhorrent assassination, an attack on the liberty of the press, an attack on the human right to life and had heavy sectarian overtones”.

However, he ruled the prosecution’s arguments were not strong enough to outweigh the court’s obligation to grant bail in appropriate cases.

Mr Justice McLaughlin said his decision was based on a number of factors, including the acceptance that Mr Leckey was not a “principal party” in the shooting and because he went to police as soon as he knew they were looking for him.

Agreeing to release Leckey on sureties of £7,000, the judge ordered him to have no contact with any witnesses or co-accused.

He added: “I do not want it to be suggested in court that because this man has been granted bail, that may have a bearing on anyone else’s (bail application). These cases stand on their own.”

By Barry McCaffrey
Irish News
**Via Newshound
06/10/08

A mother and her two daughters are to take legal action to force Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde to admit that their lives are in danger from loyalist paramilitaries.

On June 1 this year police officers arrived at the Craigmore Way home of Pamela Campbell (49) and her two daughters Grace and Pamela jnr at Donegal Pass in south Belfast.

The family were given a written warning that police had received intelligence that their home was about to be attacked by loyalist paramilitaries.

Less than 24 hours later police again warned the family that they had received further intelligence “which suggests that… Craigmore Way may be burnt out tonight”.

As a result of the threats the Campbell family applied for the Housing Executive to buy their home under a special scheme for people under threat from paramilitaries.

However the Campbells say they have now been informed that the chief constable has refused to officially confirm the threat to the family’s home, despite his officers having given them written warnings on two occasions in June.

“We just don’t know why the chief constable is refusing to confirm that paramilitaries are targeting us,” Pamela Campbell jnr said.

The family said they have been forced to install CCTV cameras outside their home after repeated attacks.

“We have had our car tyres slashed, our motorbikes vandalised, over £1,500 worth of damage done to the car,” the Campbells said.

“We have had to install an alarm, CCTV and floodlights.”

In December last year

Ms Campbell’s younger brother Christopher was found dead, having reportedly taken his own life following threats from loyalist paramilitaries.

The Campbells have now asked Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson to carry out an investigation into alleged failures in the original police investigation of the 18-year- old’s death.

Condemning the ongoing threats against the three women, South Belfast MP Alasdair McDonnell said: “The Campbell family have been through a horrendous ordeal. Everyone has the right to live free from fear and intimidation.

“No individual or group has the right to put anyone under a threat of any kind.”

A PSNI spokeswoman refused to comment on the chief constable’s refusal to confirm the threats, stating that it was not police policy to comment on the personal security of individuals.

Coleraine Times
08 October 2008

SDLP East Derry Assembly Member John Dallat has made a complaint to the Parades Commission after permission was granted for a loyalist parade in Coleraine on Saturday.

Mr Dallat said the parade lead by a band formed to honour a UVF terror group killed by their own bomb was an unwanted reminder of the past.

He said: “Coleraine does not need displays of this kind in the commercial heart of the town. Perhaps more
importantly local people who have been affected by the terror activities of the UVF and have lost loved ones in the past certainly don’t need to be reminded that this organisation is still glorified by their die-hard followers.

“The Freeman Memorial Band was given permission on ‘a once-off basis’ to enter the town centre in 2005, the 30th anniversary of the death of the four UVF gang who were priming a bomb believed to be intended for a Catholic-owned public house.

“It shocks and disgusts me that this ‘exception’ appears now to have become a permanent feature of this annual ritual in honour of one of the most ruthless Loyalist gangs to bring death and destruction to the streets of the north.”

Mr Dallat added: “Not a single gun or pipe bomb has been decommissioned by the UVF or UDA and as recently as last Thursday a 16 year old child was shot in both legs by masked men who certainly weren’t upholders of law and order but a constant reminder that in Coleraine there is still a plentiful supply of illegal weaponry about used at will by thugs working against the police and law and order.

“The silence of local DUP and Ulster Unionist politicians about this event is deafening and requires an explanation. Any suggestion that it could be connected with the Battle of the Somme and the participation of the 36th Ulster Division is nonsense and nothing more than a poor camouflage to disguise the real reasons.”

Irish Times
07 Oct 2008

US presidential candidate Barack Obama has backed calls for an inquiry into the murder of Northern Ireland solicitor Pat Finucane, campaigners said today.

Two Irish-American lobby groups said they had secured the senator’s support for the campaign to compel the British government to allow an independent, international probe into the killing.

Mr Finucane was shot dead in front of his family by loyalist paramilitaries in 1989, but the security forces have repeatedly been implicated in the killing of the solicitor, who had represented republican suspects.

The British government has faced widespread criticism for its attempts to examine the case under new public inquiry legislation that critics say would allow ministers to intervene to obstruct the search for the truth.

Tonight the Irish-American Unity Conference said it had secured Mr Obama’s support for a fully independent inquiry, as recommended in a report compiled for the British government by Canadian Judge Peter Cory.

“We are extremely grateful to senator Obama for lending us his support,” said the murdered solicitor’s son, Michael Finucane.

“As senator Obama points out, this was a recommendation of Judge Cory as a way to look at all the very serious circumstances arising out of the death of Pat Finucane.

“And it is a recommendation that has not been implemented by the British government.”

In response to a questionnaire on establishing a truth process for Northern Ireland, Mr Obama’s team said: “senator Obama would support a reconciliation process that seeks the comprehensive truth about past violence.”

It added: “senator Obama believes there should be an independent, public inquiry as Judge Cory recommended.”

Michael Finucane said the 20th anniversary of his father’s death was to be marked next year and added that the campaign to uncover the truth of what happened would continue.

“As senator Obama himself points out, disclosure of information would increase community confidence in the security forces and ultimately the institutions responsible for shaping the new society,” said Mr Finucane.

“In order to ensure that this society has the best chances of success, difficult issues such as the death of Pat Finucane must be completely and publicly addressed.”