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Update on the story.

A self-confessed UVF killer and police informer gave his Special Branch handlers advance information about a number of murders, a court has heard.

Gary Haggarty, the most senior loyalist ever to become a so-called supergrass, was a paid police agent for 11 years.

Belfast Crown Court heard he provided police with detailed information before and after a wide range of UVF incidents, including murders.

A prosecution lawyer described Haggarty as an enthusiastic terrorist.

He said the former Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) commander directed "cold, calculated and remorseless acts of violence."

He added that Haggarty had engaged in a litany of criminality over a period of 16 years. ..

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-42359454

Furthermore:

A decision not to prosecute two retired police officers, who a loyalist killer claims directed and protected him, faces a court challenge.

Ulster Volunteer Force "supergrass" Gary Haggarty has admitted more than 500 offences, including five murders.

Most were committed while he was a paid Special Branch informer.

The former Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) commander claimed two police handlers had advance warning about many of his crimes.

His allegations were investigated by the Police Ombudsman who then sent a file to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS).

Two months ago, the PPS said the former police officers would not face criminal charges.

It said Haggarty's evidence alone was insufficient to prove his allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-42428270
 
ONH has declared a ceasefire. In a statement, it said that "at this time the environment is not conducive to armed conflict". The group's statement does not comment on what will happen to its weapons...

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-42786530

Interesting choice of words - conducive. Suggesting they'd joyfully return to violence as soon as the weather was right for it? Like they're sad they have to stop maiming or something. Wonder if 32CSM, RIRA, CIRA, SNH etc will be following suit - or are they now all one big unhappy family again? I get lost in the incestuous infidelity of it all. In any case, the SF leadership will doubtless not be welcoming these folks with open arms. Neither they should.

Where are the gons, Micheál?
 
I usually ignore Mackers' blog these days. However, Tommy McKearney I do listen to. He has a piece published there on what Mary Lou's succession means for Ireland and for republicans. At times it seems a bit like sniping from the fringe, but he sees Labour as a dead force with SF closing in rapidly as the alternative centre-left party. He also claims Right to Change are SF's most qualified successor from the socialist left.

Anyway, here: http://thepensivequill.am/2018/01/sinn-fein-edging-towards-social.html
 
Mary Lou McDonald set to be new Sinn Féin president

Go on, Mary Lou! Love yer work.

*Camera pans back to reveal lectern*

DUIRqcOXkAA0lYI-180x300.jpg


Oops!

(The banner reads: "Derry Brigade, Óglaigh na hÉireann" (OAG-lee na HARE-in) )

maximus otter
 
Last edited:
Hello?

Source can't be verified?

Possibility it might be a shopped photo or that there's an explanation that wouldn't suit your anti-whatever point of view?

Oops.
 
Ballymurphy families in London opposing statute of limitations
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-42823411


By Stephen Walker BBC News NI Political Correspondent
  • 5 hours ago

Relatives of those killed by the army in Ballymurphy in 1971 have travelled to London to oppose the introduction of a statute of limitations for members of the security forces.

MPs debated the issue on Thursday.

Last year the Defence Committee backed its introduction claiming legacy cases involving soldiers had been "unfairly prioritised".

The committee stopped short of recommending a statute of limitations for all sides during the Troubles.

It said that was for the government to decide.

'Served our country'
The cross-party group of MPs added that the government should "not lose sight of its moral responsibility to those who have served our country".

The committee also wants to see a truth recovery mechanism which they say would help families establish what happened in the past.

Speaking in the debate in Westminster the East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson said the decision was whether the government was prepared to "redress the approach to legacy, redress the approach to our service personnel and start protecting those who protected us ".

Image caption Ten people were shot dead in west Belfast in the three days after internment was introduced in 1971, in what the bereaved families refer to as the Ballymurphy Massacre
He was joined in the short debate by his DUP MP colleagues Jim Shannon and Emma Little-Pengelly.

The debate in Westminster, which centred on last year's Defence Committee report, was proposed by Conservative MP Julian Brazier. Defence Minister Mark Lancaster replied for the government.

Watching in the public gallery were relatives of those who were killed by the Army in Ballymurphy in Belfast in 1971.

John Teggart was just 11 years old when his father was shot dead.

He said he and other relatives had travelled to London to present an alternative argument. He said the families had many unanswered questions.

He told the BBC those in favour of a statute of limitations are claiming that there is a witch hunt against former security force personnel.

'Insult to victims'
He said the statistics show that is not the case. He said he wanted to know why his father was shot and said it was really important MPs and others in London heard their story.

The Ballymurphy campaigners were joined by the South Down Sinn Féin MP Chris Hazzard who believes the idea of a statute of limitations is "an insult " to victims and relatives.

The idea of a statute of limitations is to be put out to consultation by the government.

Last year the Irish government expressed concern about the planned move and said it would "not look favourably" on any amnesty measure in Northern Ireland.
 
Slightly ot: Mary Lou McDonald set to be new Sinn Féin president
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42754868

Go on, Mary Lou! Love yer work.
Having just watched the SF special Ard Fheis I want to say again Go ON, Mary Lou. Go on, Michelle O'Neill. You are the women the island has been waiting for. Lyn Boylan, Liah Ni Riadha, Martina Anderson, you are all pivotal to the emergence of Ireland from the reactionary patriarchy that has held back the growing up of the republic. Inclusivity, tolerance and unity are the only way forward. Eat an peach, tú laochra bean!
 
Hello?

Source can't be verified?

Possibility it might be a shopped photo or that there's an explanation that wouldn't suit your anti-whatever point of view?

Oops.

Sorry, l’ve just noticed your post.

“...the incoming Sinn Fein leader was a keynote speaker just four months ago at a commemoration honouring more than 50 of the IRA's notorious Tyrone Brigade killed during the Troubles.”

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/...g-tyrone-ira-brigade-terrorists-36514152.html

“...[Mary Lou McDonald], the party's president-elect was present at a wreath-laying ceremony in Castlewellan, Co Down, for an IRA member who died when the device he was planting at the town's police station exploded prematurely.

Wreaths were laid and a piper played a lament to mark the 46th anniversary of the death of Peter McNulty.

The 47-year-old, a member of the IRA's South Down Brigade, died in the attack on January 26, 1972.

Mr Allister said: "Here we have Mary Lou McDonald and two Sinn Fein MPs glorifying a terrorist bomber who sought to bring death and destruction to Castlewellan.”

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/...an-at-memorial-angers-unionists-36539698.html

The picture l posted above is of MLM speaking at the IRA Derry Volunteers dance in 2016. Oddly enough ( :rolleyes: ) it’s quite hard to find on Google; l hope this works:

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1....3261....194.NnkFzYoaUzA#imgrc=FbBco5TDYwu_2M:

maximus otter
 
Sorry, l’ve just noticed your post.

“...the incoming Sinn Fein leader was a keynote speaker just four months ago at a commemoration honouring more than 50 of the IRA's notorious Tyrone Brigade killed during the Troubles.”

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/...g-tyrone-ira-brigade-terrorists-36514152.html

“...[Mary Lou McDonald], the party's president-elect was present at a wreath-laying ceremony in Castlewellan, Co Down, for an IRA member who died when the device he was planting at the town's police station exploded prematurely.

Wreaths were laid and a piper played a lament to mark the 46th anniversary of the death of Peter McNulty.

The 47-year-old, a member of the IRA's South Down Brigade, died in the attack on January 26, 1972.

Mr Allister said: "Here we have Mary Lou McDonald and two Sinn Fein MPs glorifying a terrorist bomber who sought to bring death and destruction to Castlewellan.”

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/...an-at-memorial-angers-unionists-36539698.html

The picture l posted above is of MLM speaking at the IRA Derry Volunteers dance in 2016. Oddly enough ( :rolleyes: ) it’s quite hard to find on Google; l hope this works:

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C9BKJA_enGB704GB705&hl=en-GB&ei=WEuBWqqMJYGd5wKik6voBA&q=mary lou mcdonald Derry Brigade&oq=mary lou mcdonald Derry Brigade&gs_l=mobile-gws-serp.12..35i39k1.78974.83417.0.86344.22.22.0.0.0.0.217.3468.0j19j2.21.0....0...1c.1.64.mobile-gws-serp..2.20.3261....194.NnkFzYoaUzA#imgrc=FbBco5TDYwu_2M:

maximus otter

Fiendish SFers sabotage Google to hide bop till you drop pic!

Allister's condemnation might carry more credibility if he didn't have a history of sharing platforms with the UVF & UDA.
 

What is it about typing "Mary Lou McDonald Derry Brigade" (the two subjects of the photo in question) that makes it hard to find on Google?
 
Pearse Docherty made a a fantastic speech at the special Ard Fheis. He'd have ignited quite a few young hearts for the cause with the fire of his obvious conviction. Shades of Padraic Pearse, whom I assume he's named after.
 
Sorry, l’ve just noticed your post.

“...the incoming Sinn Fein leader was a keynote speaker just four months ago at a commemoration honouring more than 50 of the IRA's notorious Tyrone Brigade killed during the Troubles.”

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/...g-tyrone-ira-brigade-terrorists-36514152.html

“...[Mary Lou McDonald], the party's president-elect was present at a wreath-laying ceremony in Castlewellan, Co Down, for an IRA member who died when the device he was planting at the town's police station exploded prematurely.

Wreaths were laid and a piper played a lament to mark the 46th anniversary of the death of Peter McNulty.

The 47-year-old, a member of the IRA's South Down Brigade, died in the attack on January 26, 1972.

Mr Allister said: "Here we have Mary Lou McDonald and two Sinn Fein MPs glorifying a terrorist bomber who sought to bring death and destruction to Castlewellan.”

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/...an-at-memorial-angers-unionists-36539698.html

The picture l posted above is of MLM speaking at the IRA Derry Volunteers dance in 2016. Oddly enough ( :rolleyes: ) it’s quite hard to find on Google; l hope this works:

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C9BKJA_enGB704GB705&hl=en-GB&ei=WEuBWqqMJYGd5wKik6voBA&q=mary lou mcdonald Derry Brigade&oq=mary lou mcdonald Derry Brigade&gs_l=mobile-gws-serp.12..35i39k1.78974.83417.0.86344.22.22.0.0.0.0.217.3468.0j19j2.21.0....0...1c.1.64.mobile-gws-serp..2.20.3261....194.NnkFzYoaUzA#imgrc=FbBco5TDYwu_2M:

maximus otter
People fighting for human rights to life etc in their own country against a hostile foreign invader. Terrorists or defenders?
"The problem for Sinn Fein is that they don't have that new start: both Michelle O'Neill and Mary Lou McDonald have, over the past number of years, gone to great lengths to eulogise IRA volunteers and go to commemorations."
I can see how that would be troubling for the Unionists and agree it isn't the best way to make the new start the SF ascendancy is looking for, but it makes sense from their point of view. They're acknowledging the men and women who took a desperately difficult moral choice to sign up for the horror and face almost certain death or incarceration to defend their people. Perhaps some day there won't be the need to eulogise anybody. Perhaps one day even the orange people will also stop deliberately burning effigies of mandated politicians who are also trying to bridge the sectarian gap, or marching through the streets of people they continue to hate as an enemy in commemoration of king willy's glorious invasion every year. Perhaps that day will come.
 
People fighting for human rights to life...a desperately difficult moral choice...

The desperately difficult moral choice to detonate a napalm bomb at the window of the La Mon restaurant? Were they fighting for the human rights of the twelve members of the Irish Collie Club they burned to death at their annual dinner dance?

“The explosion created an instantaneous and devastating fireball of blazing petrol, 40 feet high and 60 feet wide, which engulfed the Peacock Room. Twelve people were killed, having been virtually burnt alive, and some 30 others were injured, many critically. Some of the wounded lost limbs, but for the most part received severe burns. One badly burnt survivor described the inferno inside the restaurant as "like a scene from hell"...”

MLM is a thin smear of lipstick on a very ugly pig.

maximus otter
 
I got trolled to my fury on a drunken rampage here years ago. It won't happen again. The old posts are gone but my stance hasn't changed.
 
Very wise.
Conspiracy only, please.
 
Much of what Holroyd alleged at the time has been shown to be true. Vid at link.

A former military surgeon is backing legal action by an ex-intelligence officer who says he was forced to leave the Army because he raised concerns about an alleged shoot-to-kill policy.

Fred Holroyd said he was falsely diagnosed with a psychiatric illness for political reasons.

These allegations have now been backed by Dr Hugh Thomas, who was working in a hospital where Mr Holroyd was admitted.

The Ministry of Defence is expected to robustly contest the claim.

_100152001_holroyd_bbc.jpg

Image captionFred Holroyd is suing the Ministry of Defence
Mr Holroyd, a former Army captain who served in County Armagh in the 1970s, is suing the Ministry of Defence.

He has said he was unlawfully detained in the military wing of Musgrave Park Hospital in south Belfast and an Army hospital near Southampton in May 1975.

"I have evidence, through the recent disclosure of my British Army medical file, of a tortuous malicious conspiracy to unlawfully detain me in a military psychiatric institution and to force me to resign from the British Army," he said.

He has said he was targeted because he made allegations about collusion between Army units and loyalist and republican paramilitaries, and alleged some soldiers were operating a shoot-to-kill policy. ...

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
 
Loughinisland: Officer to be wiped from report
By Vincent Kearney BBC News NI Home Affairs Correspondent

All references to a former police officer criticised in the ombudsman's report into the murders of six Catholics in 1994 are to be removed.
  • 9 March 2018

All references to a former police officer criticised in the ombudsman's report into the murders of six Catholics in 1994 are to be removed.

The men were shot dead as they watched a World Cup football match in a pub in Loughinisland, County Down.

The conclusion that there was collusion between police and the UVF killers, however, will not be removed.

The damning report by the police ombudsman was published in June 2016.

Ronald Hawthorne, who was an RUC commander in Downpatrick, County Down, at the time of the killings, was not named in the report, but a court ruled last year that he was "readily identifiable".

A judge has now said he had been fully vindicated and should not have had to take legal action.

The ombudsman's move was confirmed in a court hearing on Friday.

A statement issued afterwards said the office wanted "to make it abundantly clear that its determination of collusion" in the report did not apply to Mr Hawthorne.

A number of paragraphs in the report have now been amended to remove criticism of the former officer in relation to the storage and disposal of a car believed to have been used by the killers, and the loss of an item of evidence inside the vehicle.


The ombudsman's statement said the text removed included findings "that collusion involved 'catastrophic failures in the police investigation' of the attack and 'the destruction of exhibits and documents'."

A lawyer representing Mr Hawthorne said the ombudsman had "completely surrendered" on the issue.

But the conclusion that collusion was a "significant feature" of the attack will not be removed from the report at this stage.

'Failing to comply'
The ombudsman is challenging a court ruling last year which said he did not have the legal power to say collusion was a significant feature in the attack.

The judge who issued that ruling, Mr Justice McCloskey, has stepped aside from the case and a legal challenge to his judgement will be heard before a new judge later this month.

On Friday, the judge was highly critical of the ombudsman's office for failing to comply with a deadline set by the court to outline the precise aspects of the judgement to be challenged.

"The police ombudsman is in breach of the court's order and that is unacceptable," he said.

"This is an entirely unsatisfactory state of affairs. The court has been treated with disrespect."

A lawyer for the ombudsman confirmed that it is only challenging sections of Mr Justice McCloskey's judgement which said the office did not have the legal powers to reach a determination of collusion.

The judge noted that "the vast majority" of his findings were not to be challenged.

Referring to what he called "the surrender" on issues relating to Ronald Hawthorne, he said the ombudsman's office should pay all of his legal costs.
 
Review of what sounds like an interesting analysis of the role and actions of the British Army in Northern Ireland.

"Burke’s close analysis of military organisational structure and dynamics, which started life as an academic thesis, is a substantial piece of research. ... Burke contests the republican allegation that all Scottish regiments were anti-Catholic, but – like many others – the Argylls came to see the Catholic population as “the enemy”. The results here were catastrophic."


Catholic farmer’s killing in North and the British army’s ‘tribal war’
Review: An Army of Tribes: British Army Cohesion, Deviancy and Murder in Northern Ireland

image.jpg

Michael Naan (left) and Andrew Murray: were knifed to death by Sgt Stan Hathaway of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1972.

When the British government decided to deploy troops on the streets of Belfast and Derry in August 1969, the role initially envisaged for the army was “peacekeeping” or holding the ring between what many British people saw as two warring Irish factions. That optimistic aspiration rapidly unravelled, and for most of the next three decades the army was engaged in a kind of counterinsurgency, if not (as many soldiers thought) actual warfare.

Operation Banner – which was not formally wound up until July 31st, 2007 – became the longest campaign in British military history. As Fintan O’Toole put it that day in The Irish Times, the army had been “a player not a referee”. The presence of combat-ready soldiers on UK streets was jarring at many levels, not least that of the soldiers themselves – as one officer put it, “the topography is exactly as you recognise it at home. Yet you have a rifle in your hands”. His men persistently asked, “Am I really right to be doing this between WH Smith and a Marks and Spencers?” ...

In An Army of Tribes, Edward Burke poses a less familiar question – was it the right kind of army for the task? Did some of its fundamental characteristics perhaps predispose it to counterproductive responses? Might for instance its much-prized regimental system, widely seen as a key to its effectiveness, lead to illegal actions?

He focuses on one particularly gruesome instance, the double murder of Michael Naan and Andrew Murray in south Fermanagh in October 1972. Both were knifed to death by soldiers of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in an operation whose purpose has remained obscure, not least because there was no investigation of the incident until 1979, when Sgt Stan Hathaway admitted to the murder. ...

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/...h-and-the-british-army-s-tribal-war-1.3442019

image.jpg


An Army of Tribes: British Army Cohesion, Deviancy and Murder in Northern Ireland
by Edward Burke

Liverpool University Press - £19.95
ISBN-13: 978-1786941039

 
Court case regarding collusion continues.

Off-duty police officers and soldiers were allegedly involved in an "extraordinary pattern" of loyalist killings in Northern Ireland, the Court of Appeal heard today.

Senior judges were told members of the security forces were connected to weapons used by a paramilitary unit blamed for more than 100 murders during the 1970s.

Counsel for the brother of a teenager killed in one bomb atrocity linked to the so-called Glenanne Gang claimed the case for compelling police to now complete an overarching investigation into suspected state collusion is emphatic.

Chief Constable George Hamilton is appealing a ruling that his force unlawfully frustrated any chance of an effective probe into the series of deadly terrorist attacks.

Last year a High Court judge held that relatives who lost loved ones were denied in their legitimate expectation that the now-defunct Historical Enquiries Team (HET) would publish a thematic report.

He ordered police to finalise and publish a thematic report into the Glenanne killings.

The verdict was reached in a legal challenge brought in the name of Edward Barnard.

Mr Barnard's 13-year-old brother Patrick was among four people killed in a St Patrick's Day bombing at the Hillcrest Bar in Dungannon in March, 1976....

http://www.irishnews.com/news/north...llings-court-hears-1301989/?param=ds441rif44T
 
Hands across the border! Whatever you think about Brexit, Sinn Féin supporting a Unionist is good news! Must be a conspiracy!

Anti-Brexit unionist wins Seanad seat with Sinn Féin support

Two Seanad byelection counts took place in Leinster House on Friday, with former Ulster Farmers’ Union president Ian Marshall and former Fine GaelTD Anthony Lawlor taking the seats.

A former president of the Ulster Farmers’ Union Mr Marshall, an anti-Brexit campaigner who works in Queens University Belfast in the Institute for Global Food Security, was approached by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to accept a Fine Gael nomination. He was supported by most in Fine Gael, as well as Sinn Féin.

The vacancies arose because of the resignation of Labour’s Denis Landy, who stood down from the Upper House on health grounds, and of Independent Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, a former Sinn Féin member, who left the Seanad to take up a post as communications manager with TG4. ...

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ire...-seanad-seat-with-sinn-féin-support-1.3476501
 
Documentary to premiere on 11 July.

Former policeman blows the whistle on murderous Glenanne Gang in new documentary

A DOCUMENTARY about the loyalist Glenanne Gang - who were thought to be responsible for more than 120 killings in an area of Mid Ulster once dubbed 'murder triangle' - took four years to complete.

West Belfast filmmaker Sean Murray said he could have made the film in two years but said it "wouldn't have been the documentary he wanted to make".

The film, which was funded from charitable donations, crowd funding and from the filmmaker's own pocket, tells the story of a gang of loyalists, that included members of the security forces, involved in a sectarian campaign of terror from 1972 until 1978.

Narrated by Oscar-nominated actor Stephen Rea, it finishes with a reading of the 'Strand at Lough Beg', the famous poem by Seamus Heaney he wrote in memory of his cousin Colum McCartney, who was shot dead by members of the Glennanne Gang dressed as UDR soldiers in Newtownhamilton in 1975. ...

The book, Lethal Allies by Ms Cadwallader, provided the basis of the research for the documentary, which also takes the same name.

However in the course of the making of the film Mr Murray said he managed to uncover new details of how the gang operated after speaking to ex-RUC man and self confessed Glenanne gang member John Weir. ...

* Unquiet Graves will premier at Galway Film Festival on July 11, before going on tour.

http://www.irishnews.com/news/2018/...in-new-documentary-1356549/?param=ds441rif44T
 
PSNI officer appointed as Garda Commissioner. There are already allegations that he is an MI5 agent!

PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Drew Harris has been appointed as the new Garda Commissioner following an international selection process.

The appointment is for a five year period.

Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan said Mr Harris takes up office at a time of major reform and investment which will redefine An Garda Síochána as an organisation.

Acting Commissioner Dónall Ó Cualáin will continue in his role until Mr Harris' appointment takes effect, after which he will retire.

Minister Flanagan said Mr Ó Cualáin has been a "steady hand at the tiller in difficult times for the organisation ably supported by Deputy Commissioner John Twomey".

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2018/0626/973313-drew-harris-garda-commissioner/
 
More on the Garda Commissioner. If you search for Smithwick Tribunal you'll find more on the alleged IRA infiltration of the AGS. It wasn't proven but there were three dodgy sergeants serving at the Dundalk station. It was the Divisional as well as District HQ, also housed the Divisional Detective Superintendent and the Divisional Border Superintendent and the Divisional Special Branch DI, so there would have been more staff and the three dodgy stripers isn't quite as bad as it sounds.

To suggest An Garda Síochána was “immune” from infiltration by the IRA is “fundamentally wrong”, retired PSNI assistant chief constable Andrew McQuillan has said.

Reacting to concerns at evidence given at the Smithwick Tribunal by new Garda Commissioner Drew Harris about alleged infiltration by the IRA in the Garda station in Dundalk, Mr McQuillan said he could understand the Garda’s hurt.

“The PSNI at one stage had found agents of the IRA in its staff, the government in Northern Ireland was riddled with them, he said.

“To say that the garda was immune from it is fundamentally wrong.”

Mr Harris, who is currently the Deputy Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, was appointed following a process run by the Public Appointment Service.

The Smithwick Tribunal was investigated possible Garda collusion with the IRA in the murders of RUC officers chief supt Harry Breen and supt Bob Buchanan in March, 1989, shortly after they left Dundalk Garda station. In his final report, Judge Peter Smithwick concluded that, on the balance of probabilities, there was collusion.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/gardaí-not-immune-to-ira-infiltration-says-ex-senior-psni-officer-1.3545456
 
Yet more collusion allegations.

Chief suspects in Loughinisland massacre named for first time in new documentary
October 01, 2017 07:43 AM

A new documentary, No Stone Unturned, shown for the first time at the New York Film Festival on Saturday about the notorious 1984 Loughinisland massacre, has named the chief suspects for the first time. They are named as Ronald Hawthorn, Alan Taylor and Gorman McMullen.

The Loughinisland massacre took place on June 18, 1994, in the small village of Loughinisland, County Down, Northern Ireland. Members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group, burst into a pub with assault rifles and fired on the customer's, killing six civilians and wounding five. The pub was targeted because it was frequented mainly by Catholics and was crowded with people watching the Republic of Ireland play in the World Cup.

The documentary No Stone Unturned, by the Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney, also states that one and perhaps two of the suspects were also police informers.

In another shocking charge, the documentary alleges that members of the police had known about the intended shootings but did nothing to stop them, even warning one suspect before he knew the massacre was on to expect arrest and questioning the following day. The job was almost called off because the car they had purchased had mechanical problems. ...

https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/chief-suspects-in-loughinisland-massacre-named-for-first-time-in-new-documentary?utm_campaign=Best of IrishCentral - 2017-10-01&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=Mailjet
 
This doco's researcher and producer were arrested a few days ago.


"The arrest of Trevor Birney, who produced the documentary, and Barry McCaffrey who researched it, is a new and despicable twist. The two men were arrested from their homes and taken to Musgrave PSNI station. Computers and other material was taken and the PSNI claimed the arrests had to do with alleged material stolen from the Police Ombudsman’s office. Lawyers acting for both men quickly secured a block on the PSNI examining the material until a legal challenge to the validity of the search warrant is heard.
Late on Friday evening as they were released on bail Barry McCaffrey described their arrests as “an attack on the press.” He added: “It’s us today, tomorrow it could be you.”"



Full blog here: http://leargas.blogspot.com/2018/09...ium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+Largas+(Léargas)
Thursday, September 6, 2018
State arrest of two journalists and the issue of collusion


Irish govt refusing to oppose Collusion
The arrest last Friday morning of two investigative journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey was a new low in the efforts of the British state to protect its own agencies and personnel from the legal consequences of state collusion during the decades of the conflict. It is also a consequence of the refusal of successive Irish governments to oppose collusion.
The journalists arrested were part of the team that last year produced the acclaimed Alex Gibney documentary ‘No Stone Unturned’. Gibney is an internationally celebrated American documentary maker. Both Trevor and Barry are also well respected and award winning reporters. The documentary was widely praised for exposing the hidden secrets of the Loughinisland attack to wider public scrutiny for the first time, including naming one of those involved in the attack.
‘No Stone Unturned’ looked at the events which led to and followed on from the UVF attack on the Heights Bar in Loughinisland on 18 June 1994 as a small number of customers watched Ireland’s World Cup opening soccer match against Italy. Masked men burst into the small room and opened fire with semi-automatic rifles. Six men were killed and five other people were injured. British Secretary of State Patrick Mayhew some years earlier did a wretched legal deal with British UDA agent Brian Nelson to avoid the full extent of Nelson’s activities from becoming exposed in court. In his response to the Loughinisland attack Mayhew claimed that the RUC would leave ‘no stone unturned’ to get at the truth. It was a lie. The reality is that every effort was and continues to be made by the British system to keep the truth from the families and victims.
In June 2016 the Police Ombudsman, Dr Michael Maguire, published a report which “reveals police informants at the most senior levels within Loyalist paramilitary organisations were involved in an importation of guns and ammunition into Northern Ireland in the mid to late Eighties. The report has identified that two of the weapons from this shipment were connected to the UVF attack on the Heights Bar in Loughinisland on 18 June 1994, in which six people died and five others were injured; to the murders of two men in separate attacks and to a series of other terrorist incidents. Police figures indicate that the unrecovered weapons from the importation were used in a least 70 murders and attempted murders”.
In response former members of the RUC went to court and challenged the Ombudsman’s report and in particular the accusation of collusion. They want the Ombudsman’s report binned. That case has not concluded.
The arrest of Trevor Birney, who produced the documentary, and Barry McCaffrey who researched it, is a new and despicable twist. The two men were arrested from their homes and taken to Musgrave PSNI station. Computers and other material was taken and the PSNI claimed the arrests had to do with alleged material stolen from the Police Ombudsman’s office. Lawyers acting for both men quickly secured a block on the PSNI examining the material until a legal challenge to the validity of the search warrant is heard.
Late on Friday evening as they were released on bail Barry McCaffrey described their arrests as “an attack on the press.” He added: “It’s us today, tomorrow it could be you.” The Loughinisland families were outraged and held a protest outside the Heights Bar were the attack occurred. Social media erupted with many users complaining that instead of arresting the murderers of the six men in the Heights Bar the PSNI seemed more focussed on arresting and intimidating those trying to get to the truth. Journalists, documentary makers, actors, human rights activists and academics also expressed their anger.
No one who has any understanding of the role of collusion or of the actions of the British state in defence of its self-interest will have been really surprised by Friday’s events. Successive British governments have worked tirelessly to defend and protect those within its military, intelligence and security apparatus who tortured prisoners, used plastic bullets to kill and maim, or engaged in the state sponsored murder of citizens.
Internationally respected organisations like Amnesty International and the 2006 report by the ‘Independent International Panel on Collusion into Sectarian Killings’, gave some insight into the use of collusion by the British state.
Despite their flawed nature a succession of inquiries and investigations, including the Stevens Inquiry, the Di Silva report and various reports by the Police Ombudsman’s Office in the north, have also shone a spotlight on the institutional connections between British security agencies, including the RUC, and unionist paramilitary organisations.
In 2003 John Stevens published his ‘Overview and Recommendations’ of three enquiries he carried out. He wrote: “My Enquiries have highlighted collusion, the wilful failure to keep records, the absence of accountability, the withholding of intelligence and evidence, and the extreme of agents being involved in murder. These serious acts and omissions have meant that people have been killed or seriously injured”.
The 2007 report by the then Police Ombudsman Nuala O Loan into the running of “serial killer” – Mark Haddock - by the RUC Special Branch concluded that the RUC protected him from prosecution and paid him at least £80,000. O’Loan’s investigation linked Haddock with the murder of at least ten people. The report found a ‘pattern of work by certain officers within Special Branch designed to ensure that Informant 1 and his associates were protected from the law’.
TheCommission of Inquiry under Mr. Justice Henry Barron, that was set up by the Irish government to examine the Dublin Monaghan and Dundalk bomb attacks, described those actions as “acts of international terrorism that were colluded in by the British security forces”.
The hard reality is that is a significant body of evidence exists that proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that the British state deliberately and strategically used proxy death squads to terrorise and kill hundreds of political opponents, as well as civilians.
Despite this the British political and security establishment continue to deny collusion was a matter of institutional and official practice. They do this through the denial of access to legacy funding and inquests by victims and their families, or through obfuscation and the manipulation of the courts. The goal is simple: to obstruct and frustrate the creation of a meaningful truth recovery process and to hide the truth of its counter-insurgency and collusion policies. The Irish government has shown no real interest in combatting or championing this policy. Until it does so the British government and its agencies will continue to act with impunity. The responsibility of the Irish government and political parties on this island must be to support the families, support Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey, frustrate Britain’s malign efforts to thwart the right of victims and families to truth, and hold the British government to account on all of these matters.
 
An odd twist, but if it was a set-up you'd imagine his enemies would ensure a sentence with child pornography.


Stakeknife: Alleged IRA spy admits extreme pornography charges
  • 47 minutes ago
The man alleged to have been the Army's highest-ranking IRA agent has pleaded guilty to two charges of possession of extreme pornographic images.
West Belfast man Fred Scappaticci, 72, appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
The court heard the charges related to at least 329 images, including some involving animals.
Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot sentenced Scappaticci to three months in custody, suspended for 12 months.
Continued:
 
An odd twist, but if it was a set-up you'd imagine his enemies would ensure a sentence with child pornography.


Stakeknife: Alleged IRA spy admits extreme pornography charges

  • 47 minutes ago
The man alleged to have been the Army's highest-ranking IRA agent has pleaded guilty to two charges of possession of extreme pornographic images.
West Belfast man Fred Scappaticci, 72, appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
The court heard the charges related to at least 329 images, including some involving animals.
Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot sentenced Scappaticci to three months in custody, suspended for 12 months.
Continued:

Looks as if some of it was horseplay and puppy-love but I wonder what the rest was? Practically any image/vid portraying even consensual spanking is now illegal in the UK.
 
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