SAOIRSE32

LUKE CASSIDY
Irish Times
14 Jan 09

The Police Service of Northern Ireland’s (PSNI) Historical Enquiries Team (HET) have arrested a 39-year-old man in connection with the murder of Thomas English in the north in 2000.

A police spokesman said the man was arrested this morning and he is currently “helping the HET with their enquiries”.

Thomas English was shot dead by the UVF on October 31st, 2000 as part of the loyalist feud of that period.

The 39-year-old was a former senior UDA figure who was later a member of its political wing, the Ulster Democratic Party.

He was killed in retaliation for the earlier UDA murder that week of Bertie Rice, a member of the UVF-linked Progressive Unionist Party.

Irish News
13/01/2009

THE teenager cleared yesterday of the murder of Ballymena schoolboy Michael McIlveen was later named as being one of his attackers.

However, while the 17-year-old was named in police interviews of a co-accused, it is not, nor can it be used as evidence against him.

The teenager, who cannot be named because he is still a juvenile, was formally cleared by the jury after the prosecution offered no further evidence against him in relation to the murder charge and one of affray.

The Antrim Crown Court jury of eight women and three men found him ‘not guilty by direction’ of both charges.

Initially yesterday Eilis McDermott QC, defending, asked that the teen-ager be re-arraigned on a charge of causing criminal damage to a gate which was also attacked on the night Michael was punched and kicked and hit with a baseball bat.

Following that guilty plea, John Orr QC, prosecuting, told Mr Justice Treacy that he had been instructed to accept that plea and in the circumstances the prosecution would not be presenting any further evidence in respect of the murder and affray charges.

However, when the police interviews of a co-accused, Christopher Andrew McLeister (18), Knock Crescent, Ballymena, were later read to the court, the teenager was identified as being one of those who attacked Michael who died in hospital from head injuries on May 8 2006, the following day.

Mr McLeister, who is on trial with three others for the murder, initially denied hitting the 15-year-old schoolboy, before accepting that he had “hit him a wee todie kick” because he didnt want “to look like a pussy” in front of the others.

Initially he told police that “it wasn’t right what happened to him, Michael”, and that he “was shocked” and “just felt bad”, when he learned he was in hospital.

Mr McLeister told police he had nothing to do with the attack and that, “that’s lies …. deliberate lies”, if anyone said he had been.

“I didn’t kick, I didn’t go near him, I didn’t touch him … I swear on my life I didn’t,” he told detectives.

However, by his sixth interview a crying McLeister admitted that he had hit Michael.

“I didn’t want to look like a pussy in front of those sorts of boys,” he told police.

On trial with Nr McLeister for murder are 19-year-old Jeff Colin Lewis of Rossdale, Christopher Francis Kerr (22), Carnduff Drive, and Aaron Cavana Wallace (20), Moat Road, all Ballymena.

A fifth defendant 18-year-old Paul Edward David Henson of Condiere Avenue, Ballymena faces charges of affray and criminal damage.

Another accused, 20-year-old Meryvn Wilson Moon, from Douglas Terrace in the town, whom the court heard hit the teenager on the head with a baseball bat, is awaiting sentence having pleaded guilty to the murder.

Irish News
By Staff Reporter
13/01/2009

A businessman who drove Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams during peace process visits to London has told a court that an alleged blackmail bid by two former IRA prisoners left him terrified for the lives of himself and his family.

The 52-year-old said threatening letters and follow-up phone calls accused him and his business partner of using the IRA’s name to raise £6 million.

They also demanded £150,000 “contributions” from each of them to resolve matters.

The men – neither of whom can be named for legal reasons – were told that the IRA had conducted a “prolonged and intensive investigation” into their activities, London’s Southwark Crown Court heard.

His letter, signed ‘P O’Neill’, said if they did not do as they were told “appropriate action would be taken”.

The Limerick-born company chief said: “I was very frightened when I read this, particularly because of what had happened to [my business partner], what he had received.

“He was quite scared, quite worried about who was behind this and what they were intending.”

The businessman – who loaned company cars to Sinn Fein officials visiting Britain during the Good Friday Agreement negotiations and personally drove Mr Adams around London – said there was no truth in the allegations levelled against him and his partner, a former Sinn Fein supporter.

In the dock are Nick Mullen, of Birlington Mews, West Acton, west London, Ronnie McCartney (55), of Ross Road in west Belfast, and Louis O’Hara (43), of Collard Avenue, Loughton, Essex.

They all deny two counts of conspiracy to blackmail last year.

The court has heard that Mr Mullen was jailed for 30 years for explosives offences in 1990 after being described as an IRA ‘quartermaster’ in London. His conviction was later quashed on appeal.

Mr McCartney became one of the longest-serving IRA prisoners after being jailed at Winchester Crown Court in 1976 for attempting to murder three policemen.

The businessman said the first contact, from a mobile phone last March allegedly “attributed” to O’Hara, simply told him “Silly boy, silly boy”.

The following day he received the letter.

He told Mark Heywood, prosecuting, that he had known nothing about an investigation and branded the assertion he had used the IRA’s name to raise £6 million as “bizarre”.

“Have you ever raised any money for the movement?” the barrister asked.

“No. I would not have any truck with any such carry on,” the businessman said

“I have no republican background. I suppose I have, for want of a better word, an anti-republican background because of the manner of republicanism, its agenda to use violence.”

The businessman, who phoned police after receiving the letter, said the only relevance he believed the figure of £6 million had was as some sort of “guesstimate” about the value of his business.

He told the court that police, who advised him to move out of his home and stay away from his office, later began monitoring calls to his home.

The first was from a phone allegedly linked to Mr Mullen, who described himself as a “middleman”.

The next, from someone with a Northern Ireland accent, accused him of “extorting a lot of money” using the IRA’s name.

Following a series of exchanges, the caller told him: “You have looked after them, [your business partner has] looked after them as well.”

After asking if he was talking about Mr Adams, the businessman said: “I drove for a short period for Adams over here, in a normal capacity as part of the peace process. That’s the only contact I’ve had. I do not know that man personally.”

The caller then suggested he contact Pat Magee, the Brighton hotel bomber, saying: “Pat will be talked to tonight as well. You know what I mean? We’re telling you what to do, right? OK?”

The trial was adjourned until today.

RTÉ
Tuesday, 13 January 2009 22:07

The public inquiry into the killing of Robert Hamill in Co Armagh 12 years ago has heard that shortly after the murder, police had evidence that one of their own officers had tried to protect one of the killers from prosecution.

25-year-old Catholic, Robert Hamill, was beaten to death by a loyalist mob in Portadown in April 1997.

This inquiry is investigating allegations that RUC officers near the scene of the attack failed to protect Mr Hamill and later frustrated the investigation.

At the opening session, a lawyer for the inquiry revealed that within two weeks of the killing the police had the names of a number of Protestants who were said to have murdered Mr Hamill, plus evidence that an RUC officer had protected one of the killers by updating him on the police investigation.

The lawyer said the police believed that a constable in the RUC Landrover near the scene, Robert Atkinson, had warned one of the suspects to dispose of clothes he had been wearing during the attack.

Constable Atkinson was later charged with conspiracy surrounding the alleged tip offs, but was not prosecuted.

The murder in April 1997 was one of four alleged collusion cases in Northern Ireland examined by retired Canadian judge Peter Cory in which he recommended a public inquiry.

Rights group urging thorough inquiry

The British government agreed in 2004 to hold an inquiry. Now after legal delays the proceedings are under way.

Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward announced last November he would not be extending the terms of reference, despite appeals by relatives of the victim.

A human rights group which campaigned over the case said allegations RUC officers at the scene in the centre of Portadown had failed to save Mr Hamill, and subsequently frustrated the search for truth, must be thoroughly examined.

The Hamill inquiry will hear from 160 witnesses - including the police officers at the centre of the allegations - with a final report expected by the middle of next year.

The inquiry is being chaired by former English High Court judge Edwin Jowitt, who will be assisted by former chief constable of Devon and Cornwall John Evans and moderator of the Churches’ Commission for Inter Faith Relations, the Rev Kathleen Richardson.