From Relatives for Justice:

Yesterday evening the family of Roseanne Mallon sat at the 35th preliminary inquest hearing into the death of their 76yr old aunt in May 1994.
 
This attack, observed by undercover British soldiers, and carried out by a UVF death squad also injured their mother Bridget Mallon.
 
High Court Judge Reg Weir, the Coroner in the Mallon case, expressed his dissatisfaction and frustration at the PSNI and Ministry of defence for their continued tactics of delay and avoidance.
 
He told the counsel for the MoD and PSNI that their refusal to meet deadlines for providing relevant materials to the inquest is “unsatisfactory and inconsiderate”.
 
He told the representatives for the MoD that it is not for the MoD to decide how this matter proceeds and that the MoD were clearly moving at their own time in their own way and despite this - it is not for them to determine the timetable.
 

This statement came as a further application for delay in provision of relevant materials to the coroner was made. This follows three earlier extensions of time already having been granted since December 2009.

Counsel for the MoD and PSNI stated that the PSNI will be seeing the Minister Paul Goggins next Tuesday and requesting that he conduct a “balancing exercise”  on the materials which may be provided to the coroner’s court and applications for Public Interest Immunity. The Ministry of Defence were less certain as to when the British Minister for defence Bob Ainsworth would be available to conduct a “balancing exercise” into military materials and determine on what and whom Public Interest Immunity would be requested. They have requested that they received an extension for this until 1st April.

Judge Weir expressed his deep frustration particularly at the Ministry of Defence on this matter. He stated that timetabling cannot be left in the hands of interested parties. He told the solicitor for the MoD Mr Murray that the letters emanating from him were a model of obfuscation on every point.
 
On this discussion counsel for the Mallon family Fiona Doherty stated that the PSNI and MoD are minded to ignore all deadlines. It is clear at this point that Public Interest Immunity applications have not been done or prepared, despite the assertion that British ministers will be conducting balancing exercises this week.

Despite allowing an extension until the 1st April Mr Weir stated that the application was wholly unjustified and despite him not being happy about it he was only allowing it on faith of the assurances that all obligations would be met by 1st April – and he will see if this deadline is complied with.
 
Speaking last night Martin Mallon, the nephew of Roseanne Mallon said:
 
“This was another deeply disappointing day. It was the 35th time I have sat in a Coroner’s Court hoping that all matters will be moved along so we can begin the inquest.
 
“While Judge Weir was scathing in his comments to the PSNI and in particular to the Ministry of Defence – we have been here before with the Coroner in Tyrone Roger McLarnon making similar remarks – the MoD and PSNI just treat all of these occasions and this family with total contempt.
 
“It is unbelievable that it was just taken as acceptable that two British ministers in Downing Street would be used as another reason for delay. This was a killing of 76 year old woman sitting in her own home by an illegal paramilitary organisation. Why are the PSNI and MoD seeking Public Interest Immunity Certificates in such a case?
 
“We of course know now that our house was under surveillance. We know that the British army watched as the killing took place.
 
“The questions to be answered are whether the British state also ordered and directed the killing of my aunt and wounding of my mother that night. Were there state agents involved? These delays and the interventions of British ministers do nothing to allay our suspicions. Why would the PSNI and British government through its ministers seek a gagging order in relation to the murder of our aunt - a 76 old pensioner - and the wounding of our mother by an illegal paramilitary organisation?
 
“This killing happened in 1994 – 16 years ago. The longer this runs on the more impact it has on our family and on the wider community.
 
“We are now of course concerned that there will be direct political intervention into this inquest.
 
“They have until April Fools Day to hand over all materials and have all their paperwork completed – we shall see who the fools are.”
 

From Relatives for Justice:

In the media maelstrom of last week the UPRG press conference announcing UDA/UFF decommissioning was somewhat overshadowed by affairs unfolding at the swish family Robison household and the pending implications.

Like all big set pieces of the jigsaw over the past decade the UDA/UFF banked on capitalizing on their announcement seeking to use the opportunity to lodge credit for decommissioning. However, their announcement carried little currency in West Belfast, the killing fields of North Belfast, North Armagh, South Derry and East Tyrone where these state sponsored death squads roamed freely - or for that matter, as I ascertained this week, in their own areas where they built criminal empires and plied their drugs trade.

Now that is not to say that the putting beyond use of some weapons is not to be welcomed – of course it is – but that misses the point. The UDA/UFF instead of decommissioning years ago engaged in a very public and cynical exercise seeking to extract money for arms much in the same way they extorted through racketeering down the years.

And whilst many of those most directly affected by their actions found this particularly odious others, whilst vehemently abhorred by this attempted stunt, saw an irony in that they were now seeking money in part from the very government that had provided their deadly arsenal. In reality a few former British ministers, generals, and Special Branch operatives was all that was missing from the UPRG press conference table – then we could have probably paid more attention.

Money for guns was always a logical move given the organisations habitual tendency for crime amongst its leadership which always made it rife for infiltration. A tendency that British Intelligence and RUC Special Branch fostered during their dirty war whilst Catholics were slaughtered and working class loyalist communities turned into wastelands through drugs, prostitution and extortion.

It has long been argued that anyone within the UDA/UFF who were free political thinkers attempting to move the organisation along the political road were either killed or ousted. It is no secret that John White thwarted any political future of the UDP. Gary McMichael and Davy Adams being effectively sidelined and removed by White who was eventually exposed in the Belfast Telegraph by security correspondent Brian Rowan as being a Special Branch agent.

Essentially it was Special Branch and MI5 securocrats who were preventing positive political moves by UDA/UFF, through the UDP, keeping them within their grip during political negotiations. The spooks were keeping their options open and their gunmen within the UDA/UFF in the ascendancy and at the height of negotiations many Catholics were consequently killed as the political stakes were raised.

Key UPRG figures cite privately the hand of MI5 and Special Branch in the assassination of John McMichael and others intent on moving down the political route.

Interestingly in August 2000 when Peter Mandelson returned Jonny Adair to jail at the height of the loyalist feud, in which the Lower Shankill was being devastated by White and Adair et al, the Sunday Tribune’s then Northern Editor ran an excellent article entitled ‘Security Forces created the UDA’. This detailed the British government’s responsibility for much of the UDA/UFF development over three decades into a sectarian killing machine and criminal fraternity.

Take for instance Billy Stobie who handed UDA/UFF weapons over to his RUC Special Branch handlers and which were later returned to the UDA/UFF who then used them in a number of killings like the Ormeau Rd bookies attack that claimed five lives and injured many others – and subsequently the killing of Aidan Wallace here in West Belfast at the Devenish bar - this killing completely disproving claims that these weapons were handed back ‘deactivated’ – some of these weapons were never recovered. Presumably – hopefully – they were part of the armaments put beyond use.

This is just one of numerous examples spanning four decades revealing the hand of the state within the heart of this organisation and a microcosm of the way in which guns from the UDR, RIR and ultimately South Africa flooded its ranks.

Families affected by loyalists are not particularly interested in UDA/UFF decommissioning. They want the truth about collusion between these same loyalists, how they were armed, infiltrated, directed and controlled to carry out hundreds of sectarian killings and political assassinations by MI5 and RUC Special Branch with the full sanction of Whitehall and Downing Street.

There was more of a reaction from families to Martin McAlease’s role in seeking to obtain ten million pounds in what appeared to be a pay-off for weapons when it became public more recently. That he actually gave the idea legs and spearheaded the initiative was particularly upsetting for scores of relatives. When Vincent Kearney first broke this story our offices in Tyrone, South Derry and West Belfast were inundated with families expressing their opposition to any such move.

In a BBC Evening Extra interview British secretary Shaun Woodward, when pressed, revealed that he had met Martin McAlease regarding seeking a reported five million from the British for his ten million pound plan. Woodward stated that he referred the Presidents husband to the OFMDFM and the Executive.

In other media interviews Gerry Kelly stated that there would be no funding for guns and that funding for loyalist areas would be solely allocated on need and criterion. We have yet to hear from the Irish Government concerning their intentions. It is highly unlikely that the McAlease venture was of his making alone.

But suspicion about some sort of deal or promise and of how it may possibly work its way out lingers in the air. And in a world of deals and political horse trading people are right to be suspicious.

So as Robinson seeks an inquiry into a few quid – and our interim First Minister recently implemented an official inquiry into flooding in Fermanagh - why can’t more serious matters like arming and controlling loyalist death squads not merit the same kind of inquiry? – Or is it that we can only have inquiries when it doesn’t concern Catholics being killed in which the hand of the state is complicit?

Many of the South African arms remain in circulation – in the control of Ulster Resistance. As one relative put; ‘if the IRA had to have said we will decommission everything except the guns in South Armagh’ imagine the pandemonium. Maybe those with knowledge of or involvement in Ulster Resistance will assist this decommissioning – though I doubt that any cash will exchange hands. We don’t want any inquiries do we?

Let’s hope for two things – that working class loyalists can effectively represent their communities politically and that all families affected by the conflict can have a truth process.

The following article was published in this week's Irish Echo using quotes from our recent press release:

January 13, 2010-The Irish American Unity Conference has called on the British government "to come clean" about what it calls Britain's "involvement in arming loyalist paramilitary groups," this following last week's announcement that the Ulster Defense Association and its offshoot, the Ulster Freedom Fighters, have completed their arms decommissioning process.

"While we welcome news of the UDA/UFF disarmament, the irony of the fact that these groups were armed by MI5 and RUC Special Branch is not lost on us. We cannot hail this as any kind of real achievement without an honest discussion of British complicity in arming loyalist paramilitary groups over the years of the conflict," IAUC National President, Kate McCabe, said,

"We know that the UDA/UFF were armed with weapons smuggled in from apartheid South Africa through paid British agent Brian Nelson under the watchful eye of Whitehall and Downing Street in 1987 and 1988, and that these very same weapons were then used in hundreds of sectarian murders," said McCabe.

"There continues to be an active interest within Irish America and Congress in uncovering evidence of the collusion that took place with the blessing of the British government.

"The IAUC submitted evidence to this effect at last October's congressional hearing into collusion between police and paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. Also at this hearing, Representative Bill Delahunt said he believed a key factor in the developing peace process lies in the unsolved murders of the conflict," said McCabe.

She said the IAUC would continue to lobby for American political support for an "operationally independent, international truth commission."

Additionally, the IAUC would also seek a congressional hearing into the Brian Nelson affair and the arming of loyalist paramilitaries by British military intelligence.

The announcement last week by the UDA, the largest loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, that it had put its weapons permanently beyond use, was elsewhere broadly welcomed.

The U.S. Consulate in Belfast described the move as another important and necessary step along the path to a secure and lasting peace. "America believes that only through dialogue and positive political engagement will the people of Northern Ireland achieve the peaceful and prosperous future they desire and deserve, and this move today further confirms that violence has no place in that future," the U.S. statement said.

In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton welcomed the move.

"This is a positive step toward securing a lasting peace in Northern Ireland. As I saw first-hand this fall, the people of Northern Ireland have traveled a long way together on the road to peace in the 11 years since the Good Friday Agreement was signed.

"But the journey is not over. That is why this announcement is so important. I want to commend the work of General John de Chastelain and his colleagues in the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, whose oversight and support was essential to the process, and reaffirm the commitment of the United States to supporting Northern Ireland in its progress towards a future of peace and prosperity," Clinton said.

On Capitol Hill, Rep. Richard Neal, Chairman of the Friends of Ireland, described the UDA move as another important milestone in the continuing effort to transform society in Northern Ireland.

"It is a bold and consequential development by the loyalist leadership that deserves recognition and acknowledgement on both sides of the Atlantic. On behalf of the Friends of Ireland in the United States House of Representatives, I commend them for their historic action, and offer my support to those within loyalism who seek a peaceful and democratic future." Said Neal.

Last June, I led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Dublin to meet with senior loyalists to discuss a wide range of issues. We had a candid and productive conversation, and it was clear that the leaders we met were committed to completing the process of decommissioning, and to providing economic opportunity for the communities they represent," added Neal.

The decommissioning, he said, reinforced the dedication of those same leaders to a peaceful and prosperous way forward.

"I now look forward to working with them, and all the political parties, to complete the peace process and begin to share the peace dividend," Neal said.

January 11, 2010--The Irish American Unity Conference (IAUC) has called on the British government to come clean about its involvement in arming loyalist paramilitary groups following last week's announcement that the Ulster Defence Association (UDA)/Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) have completed the decommissioning process.

IAUC National President Kate McCabe said, "While we welcome news of the UDA/UFF disarmament, the irony of the fact that these groups were armed by MI5 and RUC Special Branch is not lost on us. We cannot hail this as any kind of real achievement without an honest discussion of British complicity in arming loyalist paramilitary groups over the years of the conflict."

"We know that the UDA/UFF were armed with weapons smuggled in from apartheid South Africa through paid British agent Brian Nelson under the watchful eye of Whitehall and Downing Street in 1987 and 1988--and that these very same weapons were then used in hundreds of sectarian murders."

There continues to be an active interest within Irish America and Congress in uncovering evidence of the collusion that took place with the blessing of the British government. The IAUC submitted evidence to this effect at last October's Congressional hearing into Collusion between Police and Paramilitary Groups in NI. Also at this hearing, Representative Bill Delahunt said he believed a key factor in the developing peace process lies in the unsolved murders of the conflict.

The IAUC will continue to lobby for American political support for an operationally independent, international truth commission. Additionally, the IAUC also seeks a Congressional hearing into the Brian Nelson affair and the arming of loyalist paramilitaries by British Military Intelligence.

ENDS

###

From Relatives for Justice (statement followed by comments from Tommy Carroll, brother of Roddy):

A preliminary inquest hearing this morning heard from lawyers, acting on behalf of PSNI Chief Matt Baggot, request an extension in order to prepare redactions and submit Public Interest Immunity Certificates, more commonly known as gagging orders, in respect of the Stalker/Sampson Reports into shoot-to-kill.
 
Previously senior Coroner John Leckey had given the new PSNI chief a deadline of September 9th to provide the reports but he failed to meet this deadline. His predecessor, Hugh Orde, had similarly failed to meet deadlines.
 
However, this morning at Belfast Coroners Court an extension was granted by Coroner John Leckey until the end of February 2010 in which redacted copies of the report will be provided to court.
 
It was also agreed that a format for making these available would equally occur enabling all those represented to receive the reports and associated materials. Reference was made to potential protocols recently discussed by all parties involved in the inquest into the murder of Roseanne Mallon in which Justice Weir instructed that the timeframe initially set out by the PSNI, under instructions from MI5, in assessing material evidence were too lengthy.
 
The court was also told that apart from the actual Stalker/Sampson report there were 18 additional boxes containing materials and a number of lever-arch files known as appendices containing statements. The latter were said by lawyers acting for the PSNI chief to be 'sensitive materials' and that 'applications for Public Interest Immunity concerning these would be made possibly from three separate sources.' It is believed that this may relate to the PSNI, the MoD and MI5.
 

From the Andersonstown News:

As unionist calls for financial reparations from Libya goes into overdrive, the Director of Relatives for Justice is appealing to the families of nationalist and republican victims to keep their minds focused on uncovering the truth.

Mark Thompson was speaking after a delegation of MPs from the North, including the DUP’s Nigel Dodds and Jeffrey Donaldson, returned from Libya at the weekend hailing their mission as a success.
However, Mark says that he wouldn’t bank on the Libyan regime forking out for victims of IRA violence.

“The Libyans aren’t indicating that they are going to provide a compensation package,” he said. “If the Libyans are minded to do anything, and that’s a big if, it appears that it may be an overall general package aimed at the community, the business sector and victims and survivors, it would be available to everyone.”

RFJ have been inundated with calls about the Libya issue in recent weeks and they have in turn, been in contact with Libyan officials, says Mark.
“Only half of the truth has been going to Libya, we have been providing them with the whole truth,” he said.

“Ever since the news of this Libyan action entered the public domain after the release of Al Magrahi, families, rightly and understandably, were outraged at the hypocrisy and double standards of unionism and the British government – they quite rightly referenced the South African weapons and the role of the British in assisting the loyalists.

Washington, DC—The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH), Irish Northern Aid (INA) and the Irish American Unity Conference (IAUC) have joined together in a renewed effort to support an independent truth recovery process to deal with the legacy of the past following Thursday’s Congressional hearing into collusion in the North of Ireland.

The hearing featured testimony from Raymond McCord, John Finucane, former Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan, and Jane Winter, director of British Irish Rights Watch. Overwhelming Congressional support for further investigations into collusion and the full disclosure of truth on the part of the British government was evident throughout.

Congressman Bill Delahunt (D-MA), chair of the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight, told the audience that the information surrounding collusion between British security forces and paramilitaries must be made public if people are to maintain faith in the integrity of the justice system.  Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) agreed, stating that there is bipartisan support for truth recovery in Congress.  “These issues are not going to go away,” Smith said.

“We would like to see Congress become actively involved in the establishment and oversight of an independent truth commission in the North of Ireland,” said IAUC President Kate McCabe.  “Such a process, where victims’ rights are at the forefront, is essential to a lasting peace.  American political support is necessary to ensure the true independence of any truth recovery process in the North.”

AOH National President Seamus Boyle said, “It is very important to remember that with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 ending the conflict in the North the Ancient Order of Hibernians refocused on the human rights and collusion issues which were highlighted in this Congressional hearing. We need to have resolution to these collusion issues which devastated both communities. We can then move on to the much more difficult task of a political dialogue and reconciliation between the communities.”

The AOH, INA and the IAUC are requesting that a Congressional fact-finding delegation be organized to travel to the North to specifically investigate the collusion issue.  In addition, members of Congress are being asked to write to the Northern Ireland Office and Prime Minister Gordon Brown to express support for the “Legacy Commission” as proposed by the Consultative Group on the Past, provided that the British government allow for its operational independence and full access to State archives.

All Irish Americans and concerned citizens are being asked to join the AOH and IAUC in promoting these goals.

Please show your support for all of the victims of collusion in the North by attending the Congressional hearing scheduled for this Thursday, October 22nd.  Let Congress know that there is a tremendous amount of political support behind uncovering the broader themes of the conflict, including collusion, shoot-to-kill and British state violence. (If you are unable to attend, email info (at) iauc.org to find out how you can help!)

See the details below, or go here:

Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight, Bill Delahunt (D-MA), Chairman:

"Concerns Regarding Possible Collusion in Northern Ireland: Police and Paramilitary Groups"

The hearing begins at 10am in Room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

BRIEFING BY:

Her Excellency Nuala O'Loan
Member
British House of Lords
(Former Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman)

WITNESSES:

Mr. Raymond McCord, Sr.
Belfast, Northern Ireland

Mr. John Finucane
Belfast, Northern Ireland

Ms. Jane Winter
Director
British Irish Rights Watch

From the Irish National Caucus:

Capitol Hill.  September 28, 2009.  Irish-Americans have warmly welcomed the news that Congressman Bill Delahunt (D-MA), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight, has scheduled a Congressional Hearing for October 22 on the case of Raymond Mc Cord Jr. (22) who was murdered in 1997 near Belfast. The Mc Cords are a Protestant/Unionist family.

Because British Government agents and police informers were involved in the murder the crime and collusion were covered up and only exposed by the relentless truth-campaign of the young man’s father, Raymond Sr., who will be the main witness at the Hearing – marking the first time a Protestant has testified on collusion.

“Congressman Delahunt deserves great credit for scheduling this Hearing”, said Fr. Sean Mc Manus, president of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus, which last May brought Raymond Mc Cord Sr. to Capitol Hill to lobby for his son’s cause.

From Relatives for Justice:

Speaking after this morning’s preliminary inquest hearing into the British army’s SAS killings of Martin McCaughey and Dessie Grew, Peter McCaughey, Brother of Martin, issued the following statement through Relatives for Justice (RFJ);

‘The families have already taken the case concerning the killings to the European Court, the British High Court and the House of Lords in our battle to obtain the truth surrounding the killings and for justice to be seen to be done.

 ‘This has been an almost twenty-year legal battle that has taken its own toll in terms of the families – my father Owen passed away and in no small measure the impact of delay, prevarication and stalling of the inquest contributed to his trauma, ill-health and death. My mother is now continuing with the case.

‘At this morning’s hearing we again faced another tactical delay by the British government in the form of the PSNI’s Historical Enquiries Team (HET). As the inquest is now set, after almost twenty-years, to commence the PSNI informed the Coroner that the HET have the case on its schedule to examine and that whilst this would not yet commence until at least the latter part of 2010 it is their intention to examine the killings.

‘‘These killings were part of a clearly organized military plan to kill Martin and Dessie rather than to make safe and effective arrests within the rule of law. We further believe that the shoot-to-kill operation that led to the deaths was sanctioned at the highest political levels within both the NIO and London.

‘The objective on the part of the British government is to continue to prevent the truth concerning the killings from coming to light. The role of the PSNI’s HET must be seen within that context in that it is a contrived farce aimed at managing and suppressing the truth and thus the British government’s policy of shooting dead republicans.

‘For our part we want to publicly state that we do not want any PSNI HET examination of these killings.

The British government has certain legal obligations under both domestic and international law. We want a proper Article 2 inquest in which those responsible for planning, sanctioning and carrying out these killings are accountable to the families and the public for their actions. The HET met none of these requirements and their introduction at this stage is clear for all to see.

‘We will be raising the matter with the Irish government and will consider any legal action in terms of ensuring that this inquest proceeds immediately without any interference or distribution by the PSNI.’ ENDS

Editors notes - For further information please contact RFJ – 02890 220100 or our Dungannon office on 028 87751697

Please accredit Relatives for Justice.