Tag Archives: Seirbhís Phóilíneachta Thuaisceart Éireann (PSNI)

The Murder Machine – The British War In Ireland

Posted on by
1

Several weeks ago I examined the acquittal in a British-run court in the North of Ireland of the long-time Irish Republican activist Colin Duffy. Following years of imprisonment while awaiting trial (colloquially known as “internment on remand”) he was found not guilty of the killings of two British soldiers shot dead during an attack on the Masserene Military Base outside Belfast by the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA). For Duffy and his supporters it was a validation of his claims to innocence and further evidence of a campaign of persecution conducted against him by the British state since the late1980s.

In the light of those developments I examined some of Colin Duffy’s history, in particular the attempted murder of Duffy and two other Republicans some twenty years previously. In March 1990, shortly after attending an appointment at a British paramilitary police base of the then Royal Ulster Constabulary (later reformed as the Police Service of Northern Ireland), Duffy and his companions, Tony McCaughey and Sam Marshall, were attacked by a group of British terrorists. Leaping from a car two British gunmen opened fire with a hail of bullets from automatic assault rifles wounding Sam Marshall who fell to the ground, while Duffy and McCaughey narrowly managed to escape. The badly injured 31 year old father was then shot to death as he lay defenceless on the street.

Returning to their vehicle the terrorists sped off, apparently “escorted” by a second car identified by several witnesses as a red Maestro. In 1999 a news documentary for the BBC revealed that the second vehicle was in fact a registered undercover car manned by members of British Military Intelligence and that a number of soldiers were present both on foot and in other vehicles observing the attack. These revelations further fueled already existing allegations that the assassination attempt was the result of co-operation between elements of the British Forces in Ireland and their British terrorist counterparts. The Irish Examiner now brings us the latest revelations in this ongoing scandal:

“…undercover British soldiers were at the scene of a high-profile killing carried out by loyalist paramilitaries in the North, a dramatic new report has revealed.

The revelations centre on a controversial attack where three republicans were ambushed minutes after they left a police station in Lurgan, Co Armagh, in 1990.

Former republican prisoner Sam Marshall was killed in a hail of automatic gunfire, but the presence nearby of a red Maestro car, later found to be a military intelligence vehicle, sparked claims of a security force role in the killing.

The presence of the Maestro, and questions over how the loyalists knew when the republican trio would be leaving the police station, sparked major controversy in the 1990s and led the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) and government to deny anything suspicious had taken place.

A review of the unsolved case by the police Historical Enquiries Team (HET) has now found:

  • At least eight undercover soldiers were deployed near the killing, with their commander monitoring from a remote location;
  • The armed military intelligence personnel at the scene were in six cars, including the noted red Maestro;
  • Two plain-clothed soldiers with camera equipment were in an observation post at the entrance of the police station as the three republicans arrived and left;
  • Two undercover soldiers followed the republicans on foot, and were within 50-100 yards of the attack, but said they did not to see the killing in which the gunmen fired 49 shots;
  • After the two masked loyalists jumped from a Rover car and started shooting, the troops did not return fire, claiming it was out of their line of sight and too far away, but alerted colleagues who launched an unsuccessful search for the killers. Despite being in a republican area, the soldiers make no reference to feeling at risk from the gunmen.
  • The killers’ guns are believed to have been used in four other murders and an attempted murder. Weapons of the same type have been linked by police to seven further killings and four attempted murders carried out in 1988/89;
  • The RUC found gloves near the gang’s burned-out getaway car, but the gloves were subsequently lost;
  • The RUC sought to deny the existence of a surveillance operation by giving “misleading or incomplete” statements. But RUC Special Branch had briefed the undercover troops;
  • Investigators could not rule in, or rule out, that the RUC leaked information to the loyalists.”

In a further twist to the story it has now been revealed in the Irish Times that the rifles used in the attack were part of a consignment of weapons from Apartheid-era South Africa smuggled into Ireland by British Intelligence agents to arm the British terror groups operating here.

“The guns used to kill Sam Marshall were from a haul smuggled into Northern Ireland by a top security force agent, the murdered man’s family has claimed.

Brian Nelson was a leading member of the loyalist Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and a prized asset of military intelligence.

He has been linked to a string of controversial killings, including the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989.

…the family obtained a copy of the original RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) report on the killing, after the document was handed to a US court as part of an extradition case in 1993.

* It confirmed the guns were VZ58 automatic rifles, similar in appearance to the infamous AK47 weapon.

* Victims groups have said the rifle model was among a consignment smuggled into Northern Ireland for use by loyalist paramilitaries in the late 1980s with the help of Brian Nelson.

* The rifles formed part of a major arms shipment from South Africa and the entire stockpile has been linked to 95 of the estimated 225 loyalist murders carried out in the six years following the arrival of the cache.

The family further claimed that by comparing information with other victims of loyalist violence, they have directly linked the guns that killed Sam Marshall to four other murders and an attempted murder.

The Marshall family has also questioned whether the description of a man seen acting suspiciously near Lurgan police station on a previous bail signing by the three republicans matched that of Robin Jackson.

The leading UVF member, known as “The Jackal”, featured in a recent HET report on the murder of members of the Miami Showband pop group in 1975, which pointed to collusion by security forces.

Rosemary Nelson, a Lurgan solicitor who took up the Marshall family’s case, was killed by loyalists in 1999 amid allegations of state collusion.”

Britain’s war in Ireland. Pitiless, remorseless, unending.

Related articles
About these ads

The North Of Ireland: Roman Catholics 40% Of Population, 61% Of Unemployed

Posted on by
Reply

Author and journalist Jude Collins has an article with the Belfast Media Group examining the continued apartheid nature of the North of Ireland where those from the Irish community, most of whom are Roman Catholics, continue to suffer discrimination in employment 45 years after the beginnings of the civil rights movement and now some 14 years after the cessation of hostilities through the Peace Process between the Irish Republican Army and their British counterparts:

“So how is the Good Friday Agreement working generally, in its promise that  equality of employment opportunity would prevail here? Well, if you’re a Catholic, this might be a good time to put aside the paper and go for a walk…

You’re gone? OK. “Labour Force Survey Religion Report 2010” from the OFMDFM  says that 61 per cent of long-term unemployed people are Catholic; the 2008 Annual Average of Long-Term Unemployed, from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, showed that 29 of the 38 electoral wards most affected by unemployment across Northern Ireland  have at least an 85 per cent Catholic population.

…I was talking to a senior trade union official a while back who insisted that lots of firms here operate with very uneven Catholic:Protestant figures for the workforce. Cases aren’t brought against them because people, including those involved, fear the repercussions of kicking up stink.

…decades after fair employment legislation and 14 years after the Good Friday Agreement, we’re still talking about the dice being loaded against Catholics in search of a job. Shouldn’t somebody be shouting they’re mad as hell and not going to take it any more?”

The sectarian and racist nature of the northern Pale, despite a decade of power-sharing between the Irish Nationalist and British Unionist communities, remains as strong as ever simply because it’s integral to its continued existence. “Northern Ireland” was conceived from the start as a discriminatory entity since it is nothing more than the last broken remnant of Britain’s colony in Ireland. What applied across all of Ireland for centuries under direct British rule was reduced to a shrunken echo of its former self under in-direct British rule with the British ethnic minority in the north-east of the island given free reign to indulge their most base instincts.

And still it goes on. From the Irish Times:

“A CATHOLIC worker at aerospace firm Short Brothers, who suffered a “chillingly frightening” campaign of sectarian text threats, has been awarded damages of £11,500.

Aircraft fitter Louis McGettigan was warned in messages to watch his back and told there were too many “Taigs” working at the company’s Belfast plant.

A judge ruled that Shorts was liable for harassment by another member of staff within the predominantly Protestant workforce.

The judge ruled that no defence had been established. “The nature and circumstances of the plaintiff’s employment were that this company had a predominantly Protestant workforce and is located in a predominantly Protestant part of the city. It was aware of the receipt by the plaintiff of a series of intimidating messages. It had policies which were not implemented.”

She added: “The reality of this shop floor is that, with full knowledge that a long-serving employee of good standing and proven integrity reported chillingly frightening sectarian texts to various managers, the employer did nothing beyond providing a room for police interviews.”

She awarded general and special damages of £11,500″

Of course this is but another part of a greater picture, illustrated by Mark McGregor over at Hearts of Oak and Steel:

“In the last few weeks the notorious Pride of the Village Flute Band Stoneyford (POVFBS), formerly lead by pederast Orangeman Mark Harbinson (currently expelled), has again started to ratchet up sectarian tensions in Stoneyford village. There were hopes the sectarian campaign against Catholics in the area would end following the conviction of the ringleader Harbinson for sexually abusing children.

However, Pride of Stoneyford are again applying for weekly parades through the village. Again, seeking to march through every residential area that could possibly have a few Catholics not yet intimidated out.”

Related articles

Political Policing

Posted on by
3

Journalist and author Ed Moloney has an important piece on his blog looking at Sinn Féin’s seeming indifference to the Boston Tapes controversy, the PSNI-driven subpoena over the death of Jean McConville and the questionable work of that force’s Historical Enquiries Team (HET).

“There is a poignant letter in today’s Irish Times from a Fr Joseph McCullough about the way his 17 year-old brother’s 1972 killing in Belfast has been treated by the  authorities down through the years, from the days when the RUC controlled policing through to the modern PSNI and Historical Enquiries Team (HET).

He writes: “Like most, if not all, murders of this kind, it remains unresolved. My brother’s killing was never investigated, and requests from my family for relevant reports and information have drawn a complete blank from the RUC/PSNI. They informed my family that no paper work or forensic reports in relation to Patrick’s murder exist. They were apparently destroyed in a police station fire!”

It is what he wrote next that struck me hardest, given the lengths to which the PSNI and the HET have gone recently – after a near 40 year gap, mind you – to investigate the killing of Jean McConville, an inquiry which has seen the HET employ the full powers of the US judicial system, 3,000 miles away from PSNI headquarters in East Belfast, to obtain alleged evidence in the case. Contrast the subpoenas served on Boston College and the hounding of myself and researcher Anthony McIntyre that will likely follow if they succeed with Fr McCullough’s experience at the hands of the exact same people:

“A number of years ago I raised these concerns with the chief constable of the RUC/PSNI and the Historical Enquiries Team. I can only describe its response as abysmal.”

The other striking thing about the killing of his brother Patrick McCullough is that it happened in the same year that Jean McConville was disappeared by the IRA, in 1972, although a half a year earlier. Patrick McCullough’s killing has actually gone unsolved longer than Jean McConville’s”

Moloney’s piece includes pointed criticism of Sinn Féin’s poor record in addressing the deficiencies of the PSNI, a paramilitary police force that continues to be influenced by a hard-core of ex-RUC officers and their biased policing culture.

“If I was in the Provo leadership there are two other aspects of the Boston College subpoenas that I would be much more worried about and which I would be channeling my energies to counteract, if I were them.

The first is the point made by Fr. McCullough about the RUC’s core sectarianism and the implication that the HET is incapable and probably unwilling to address this fundamental reason for political instability and violence in Northern Ireland. The HET is an integral part of the PSNI and Sinn Fein signed up to the PSNI, promising to support and defend it in the new dispensation. This means SF supporting a truth recovery process which implicitly accepts the state’s version of what happened, and rejects theirs, and which seems mentally ill-equipped and/or unwilling to deal with the state’s role in all the killing in the way it should be.

The HET also seems hell bent on bringing as many people as it can before the courts for events that happened before the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 and by so doing breach an understanding that pinned the peace process, that a line would be drawn under the past. Will Sinn Fein back Fr McCullough’s call for a public inquiry into the failings of the RUC? We’ll see, but in the meantime they prefer to go for me and Mackers.

The second has to do with why Patrick’s McCullough’s killing remains un-investigated and unsolved while extraordinary resources are being poured into probing Jean McConville’s death. People will say, well that’s because it was such a sad case, a widowed mother of ten thrown into an anonymous hole in the ground. It deserves such treatment. That may be true but Patrick McCullough’s killing was just as sad to his family and Jean McConville was not the only person ‘disappeared’ by the IRA.

If the truth be told, and as everyone knows, the feature of the Jean McConville killing that really sets it apart is the alleged role played by Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams.”

The failure to create an unarmed and non-paramilitary civilian police service in the North of Ireland, drawn proportionally from and reflecting both national communities, is one of the greatest indictments of the Peace Process and it will remain a source of continued instability and conflict. The Boston Tapes controversy is just one more symptom of that failure.

Related articles

Settler Versus Native – Culture Wars In The North Of Ireland

Posted on by
Reply

Thanks to Daithí for drawing my attention to this latest bit of nonsense from TUV leader Jim Allister, as he yet again rails against any attempt to implement linguistic or cultural equality between the Untermenschen Irish and Übermenschen British communities in the North of Ireland:

‘…Jim Allister has challenged the launch of an Irish language promotion campaign…

“Unlike their timid counterparts in government, Sinn Fein takes every opportunity to peddle their own political agenda. From the moment they politicised Irish as a cultural weapon of war – by describing every word spoken as a bullet in the freedom struggle – they have set about ramming it down our throats.

“Now, the latest phase in this divisive anti-British vendetta is to use departmental office, money and facilities to promote their language agenda. In historical culture Irish has its place, but as a living and working language it is a non-starter in the 21st century, whether it be the Long Kesh variety that the minister speaks or the real thing which she and her Sinn Fein colleagues emasculate every time they fumble and mumble through the mantra they have adopted as the introduction to everything they say.

“Making promotion of the Gaelic culture a policy priority is something with Section 75 ramifications and, therefore, I am asking the department to clarify when this policy was equally proofed and how much its one-sided implementation will cost.”’

The cause of wee Jimmy’s ire is a new campaign, Líofa 2015, launched by the North’s Culture Minister Carál Ní Chuilín, to encourage people from both communities in the north-east of Ireland to speak the Irish language. As reported in the Irish Independent:

‘The North’s Culture Minister Carál Ní Chuilín will ask high-profile figures, plus members of the public, to agree to try to become “liofa”, Irish for fluent, by the target date.

The Sinn Fein minister said she hoped “Líofa 2015″ would attract people from across the political divide and said the Gaelic language should be seen as belonging to all communities.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Deputy Chief Constable Judith Gillespie is among the public figures set to attend the Stormont launch of the project on Monday.

While the language has sparked rows between unionists and nationalists at the Assembly, the minister said Liofa 2015 was a bid to get away from political divisions.

“At times the Irish language came up for debate in the Assembly and, because of the conduct and the remarks that were made, members of the Irish language community felt very hurt and offended,” she said.

“They felt that there must be some way that we can deal with, and promote and advance, the Irish language without it becoming a divisive political issue.”

Ms Ní Chuilín added: “We want learning Irish to be a natural and normal thing that people do without any comment.

“I was conscious of the fact that the language seems to be viewed by some as the preserve of the nationalist and republican community, and that’s not the case. The Irish language belongs to everyone.”

A wide variety of people have been asked to take part in the project.

The minister said: “We have been speaking to people from all walks of life.

“We have been speaking to people from the PSNI, from cricket, from rugby, from soccer, speaking to people from the Fire and Rescue service. I have asked their support for Líofa.

“We want to speak to people, wherever they come from, wherever they hail. Whatever townland, city or borough, they live in. If they are interested, then we are keen to help them.”

The Department of Culture’s website will offer details of where classes are available. Support may also be on offer to learners in need of advice but the minister said she did not foresee any major expenditure.

The minister denied republicans had used Irish as a political weapon.

Referring to the historic attempts to force the demise of the language, she added: “You could go back, but I don’t want to go back. I want to go forward.”

Ms Ní Chuilín said people had a right to raise legitimate concerns over how the language had been dealt with.

But she said the decision of the Queen and US President Barack Obama to use Irish during their recent visits to the Republic of Ireland had helped break down barriers.

“I think those initiatives have done a lot to help build good relations between the communities around the language.”‘

Ah yes, no wonder poor Jim is fairly frothing at the mouth. The deputy head of the PSNI, the British paramilitary police force in the North of Ireland, attending an event promoting the language of the Natives? Its enough to send any decent, God-fearing British colonist Unionist into apoplexy. What next? Good, honest Scots-Irish Ulster-Scots folk breeding with the Celtic/Gaelic/Irish?

You could end up with wee Jimmy Allister becoming Séimí Mac Alasdair!

Where then the last remnants of Britain’s colony in Ireland?

PSNI Were Intended Target

Posted on by
Reply

The PSNI paramilitary police in the North of Ireland believe injuries suffered by the Press Association photographer Niall Carson, who was shot in the leg while covering the UVF attacks in Belfast last night, may have been the result of collateral fire, and that the intended target was PSNI officers.

According to the BBC:

‘Just before midnight, a number of shots were fired and a press photographer was shot in his right leg.

[Assistant Chief Constable] ACC Finlay said it would be a “very strange development” if people were targetting journalists and said it was “more likely” that someone was trying to target police.

“It would be odd to target a journalist in this particular way, but it would not be odd to target police officers and there were police resources round about where those journalists were standing.”

Related articles