PC ACCUSED OF POLICE STATION ASSAULT

A Metropolitan Police officer has been charged with aassaulting a person at a North London police station.

PC Rohan Scarlett, 46, who is based in Lewishim, South-East London, has been charged with assault and beating. The alleged incident is said to heve taken place in the rear yard of Islington police station on 20 February. PC Scarlett has been suspended and is due at Highbury Corner Magisrrates Court on 28 May.

NO JUSTICE FOR MARTIN COREY

No justice for Martin Corey

Barry Kearney

Martin Corey is a 63 year-old-man imprisoned in the north of Ireland.

Martin Corey.

On April 16, 2010, Martin’s house in Lurgan was visited by members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and Martin was arrested.

When he queried what the charges were, Martin was told that the police officers “did not know”. And that all they were told was to arrest Martin.

Martin Corey is a Republican who, in his youth fought against the foreign occupation of his native land. It was during this struggle for freedom that Martin Corey was charged with the murder of two members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), the forerunner of the PSNI. Martin was found guilty of the charge and sentenced to life imprisonment in December 1973.

Martin served just short of the next 19 years behind bars; he was released in June 1992.

Martin Corey did not sign any documents imposing conditions on his release.

Martin returned to Lurgan, where he set up a successful business as the local grave digger, formed a long-term relationship and settled down to a peaceful life. That was until his arrest in 2010. Martin Corey is still in prison and he still does not know what the charges against him are. Martin’s legal team also do not know what the charges are and neither does any judge hearing the case against Martin, because according to the Northern Ireland Office (NIO), he is being held on “Undisclosed or Secret Charges”. A special advocate, appointed by the NIO, can view the evidence and tell the judge what they can do. This makes a mockery of the judicial system when a politician, unelected in the North of Ireland, can make the rules regarding a person’s freedom. Martin Corey is selectively interned by an unjust British system.

Martin Corey is entitled as a life sentence prisoner to a parole hearing every 12 months; this is continually adjourned or not even scheduled. And the conditions that Martin is being kept under are a disgrace. Mail being kept from him for weeks at a time, prison craft that he has made, smashed by vindictive prison officers, as well as being denied proper medical or dental treatment in a reasonable time.

In May 2012, Martin appealed his imprisonment based on the fact he had not been charged with any crime nor had he been brought before a judge. Justice Treacey heard the appeal and in his verdict stated that Martin’s human rights had been breached and ordered Martin Corey be released immediately and placed no conditions on the release.

Martin returned to Maghaberry Prison to pack his belongings, his family travelled from Lurgan to pick him up and to take him home. It was whilst Martin was waiting in the prison reception that prison officers informed him that the Secretary of State had ordered him returned to the cells. The NIO had appealed Justice Treacey’s decision, but only after the Justice had boarded a plane and was about to leave the country, otherwise Justice Treacey would have had to hear any appeals. With Treacey out of the way a patsy of the British NIO upheld their appeal and hence Martin was returned to the cells.

When Martin’s legal team found out they immediately launched legal action against the appeal by the NIO, but to no avail. Martin finally got to appeal the decision in the High Court on July 11, more than six weeks after the decision by Justice Treacey, and that appeal the NIO overturned in hours.

The Lord Chief Justice upheld the ruling and stated that Martin’s case should be reheard on November 26, 2012. At the rehearing a panel of three appeals judges upheld the decision of the NIO to keep Martin incarcerated.

Martin’s legal team then applied to the High Court for permission to take their case before the Supreme Court in London. Martin’s legal team were very confident of winning in the Supreme Court, but in early May 2013, their euphoria was short lived as the appeal was denied without any valid reason being given. If you look beyond this denial, you will see British intransigence at its best.

By denying Martin the right to appeal to the Supreme Court, they have effectively blocked his application to the European Court of Human Rights, as he has not exhausted all domestic avenues. British politicians are very quick to point the finger in regards to human rights abuses around the world, but even quicker to put the blinkers on when it is occurring in their own backyard and perpetrated by their own people.

The Good Friday Agreement promised Equality, Justice and Human Rights for all. This obviously does not include Republicans who do not agree with the way the peace is being portrayed or do not agree with the ruling parties. Martin Corey is but one of these people who are suffering from a great injustice at the hands of a vindictive British government.

Martin Corey is an innocent man; he is innocent of any wrong doing. If the authorities believe that Martin is guilty of a crime, then the law of the land must prevail, charge him and bring him before a court of law, where he has the right to defend himself, not having to fight an invisible foe in the guise of undisclosed charges.

No Charges! No Evidence! Not Guilty!

Release Martin Corey.

Posted on behalf of : James Connolly Association Australia, Melbourne.

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HYDE PARK BOMB : MAN CHARGED OVER PIRA 1982 ATTACK

Police have charged John Downey, 61, with detonating the first of two devices that killed a total of eleven military personnel.

Three soldiers were killed instantly, a fourth died later from injuries

John Downey, 61, has been arrested and charged for detonating a nail bomb in Hyde Park on July 20, 1982, that killed four soldiers.

The bomb was the first of two explosions that killed a total of eleven soldiers and seven army horses.

Four of the soldiers served with the Blues and Royals regiment, seven were military bandsmen.

The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) claimed responsibility for the attack.

Sue Hemming, Head of Special Crime and Counter-Terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service, said:

“The Metropolitan Police Service has been investigating the explosion near Hyde Park in London which occurred on 20 July, 1982.

“We have reviewed the evidence gathered and authorised them to charge John Anthony Downey, 61, of County Donegal, Ireland.

The IRA claimed responsibility for the attack

“It is alleged that Downey is responsible for the improvised explosive device contained in a car parked in South Carriage Drive, SW1, London which resulted in the deaths of four members of the Royal Household Cavalry, Blues and Royals, as they travelled on their daily route from their barracks to Buckingham Palace.

“Downey has been charged with the murders of Roy John Bright, Dennis Richard Anthony Daly, Simon Andrew Tipper and Geoffrey Vernon Young. He has also been charged with intending to cause an explosion likely to endanger life…

“We have determined that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and that these charges are in the public interest.

The bomb was detonated as the mounted soldiers paraded through Hyde Park. Three of the soldiers were killed instantly, a fourth died later in hospital.

Shrapnel and nails sprayed into a crowd of spectators, causing numerous injuries.

Speaking in the aftermath of the attack, then-Prime Minister Magaret Thatcher said: “These callous and cowardly crimes have been committed by evil, brutal men who know nothing of democracy. We shall not rest until they are brought to justice.”

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DUP MPs HAND OVER £144k AFTER SELLING LONDON HOMES

SIX of the DUP‘s eight MP’s have had to hand over thousands of pounds to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) following the sales of their London homes. The six – Gregory Campbell, Nigel Dodds, Jeffrey Donaldson, Willie McCrea, David Simpson and Sammy Wilson – were the only North of Ireland MPs on a llist of 29 MPs.

Between them, the six DUP MPs had to hand over almost £144,000. In May 2010, following the MPs’ expended controversy, Ipsa banned the use of Commons expended to pay mortgage interest. As part of a transitional arrangement, it allowed MPs elected before 2010 to keep claiming money up until last August as long as they agreed to return any potential gain from property sales. When elected to Westminster, the six DUP MPs bought second homes in London rather than rent accommodation or use hotel rooms while attending parliament. Following the Westminister watchdog ruling, all six sold their properties and have now paid over sums agreed with Ipsa.

Seventy-one MPs were affected but most did not have to hand over any money to Ispa because surveyors’ reports or sale prices showed that their properties had not gained in value. East Derry MP Gregory Campbell had to pay the second highest amount of any MP – £61,403. “All DUP MPs have fully complied with the new expences system introduced at Westminster,” he said. “Through the fact that I receive no salary in my role as an assembly member that cost is saved to the public. “Through the sale of this property which has been done in full cooperation with Ipsa the public purse has benifited by a further £60,000.”An Ispa spokesman said one of the most damaging aspects of the MPs’ expences scandal was the use of taxpayers’ money to buy a second home. “That is why we said we would stop this and we have now done so,” he said. “The final stage in bringing this to an end was allowing a short transition period for MPs who were already committed to second mortgages. “But in doing this we set the condition that the taxpayer would want its share of any increse in the value of the property. “Today we are publishing that these capital gains are worth almost £500,000 to the taxpayer.” The spokesman said MPs had known this was the deal and agreed to the conditions set. The amounts that the other DUP MPs had to pay were :

• Nigel Dodds : £19,507
• Jeffrey Donaldson : £1,448
• Willie McCrea : £29,793
• David Simpson : £30,308
• Sammy Wilson : £1,448.

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REPUBLICAN REFUSED APPEAL CHALLENGING ‘CLOSED MATERIAL’ !

” We are surprised and disappointed by the decision of the Supreme Court but nevertheless bound by its ruling ” - Peter Murphy.

LURGAN Republican Martin Corey has been refused permission to appeal to the Supreme Court challenging the refusal to allow his defence team access to ‘closed intelligence’ used to keep him behind bars for the past three years.

English: Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The 63-year-old has been held in Maghaberry Prison since 2010 after his life licence was revoked by the then Secretary of State, Shaun Woodward, on the basis of “closed material”. His defence team, led by solicitor Peter Murphy, have argued that they are prevented from defending against allegations that he is a danger to public safety because three successive secretaries of state have refused to disclose “confidential intelligence”. The lawyer says they will consider taking a human rights case to the European court at Strasbourg. Corey, who served a life sentence for the joint-enterprise murder of two members of the RUC in 1973, was released from prison on licence in 1992. In April 2010, when he was working as a grave digger, he was arrested and his licence was revoked. In 2011 he was refused parole.

During a High Court appeal in July 2012 Mr Justice Treacy found that the Parole Commissioners had acted in breach of the Lurgan man’s human Rights and that insufficient detail about the allegations had been provided to him. The judge ruled that Corey should be released on bail immediately but this decision was overturned within hours by then secretaty of state, Owen Paterson. Yesterday Mr Murphy said : “We harbour the greatest concerns about the authenticity and strength of these allegations that have seen Mr Corey, deprived of his liberty for over three years. “In short, we see this as internment 2013 and if there is any real confidence on the part of the secretary of state [Theresa Villiers] that only one of these allegations is true, then we would challenge those responsible for having Mr Corey incarcersted to initiate a proper investigation and if needs be charge Mr Corey. “We are surprised and disappointed by the decision of the Supreme Court but are nevertheless bound by it’s ruling. “We will now however be seeking to have our client’s basic human rights and specifically the right to challenge the ongoing deprivation of his liberty, vindicated by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg”. Jim Mcllmurry, who acts as a spokesman for Corey, said : “Martin has come to expect little, and often less, when it comes to the justice system in the North of Ireland. “Our attendence at the Supreme Court in London would have given us the opportunity to expose many aspects of this case which I feel would not be found acceptable in any English court. “He has served what amounts to a six-year sentence without ever being questioned, charged or sentenced.”

With many thanks to : Allison Morris, Irish News.

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MESSAGE FROM MARTIN COREY – MAGHABERRY PRISON

Angela Nelson

Below I have posted an update on Martin Corey which explains the events of yesterday. Martin has once more been denied basic human rights through a corrupt system led by the Sec of State, Teresa Villiers and the British Government. Everything his legal Representatives try, to reach some sort of conclusion on Martin’s Administrative Detention is being thwarted. He has served a 6 year sentence to date with no charges leveled against him. This news is “Soul destroying” for Marin and his family. Please read and share.

 

Latest update on Martin Corey from his friend Jim McIlmurray.

 

At 4:50 pm yesterday, May 2, 2013, I received the news that the High Court had overruled the application to take Martin’s case to the Supreme Court in London.

 

This devastating news came without warning. Martin’s legal team has spent months building his case with such strong conviction that I feel it would have ensured his immediate release under the European Convention on Human Rights.

 

In July 2012, a Belfast High Court judge ordered Martin’s immediate release, which was overturned within hours by the then unelected Secretary of State, Owen Patterson.

 

This decision was challenged in the High Court and the case concluded unsuccessfully in December 2012 with the three-man panel of judges upholding the directive of Owen Patterson. At that stage, an application was made to appeal the High Court’s decision in the highest court in the country, the Supreme Court in London.

 

I spoke with Martin this evening and informed him of the news. Martin has come to expect little, and often accept less, when it comes to the justice system in the North of Ireland.

 

Our attendance at the Supreme Court in London would have given us the opportunity to expose many aspects of this case which I feel would not be found acceptable in any English court. The fact that the Secretary of State could hand out directives, dismissing decisions by High Court judges, would have been highlighted in the Supreme Court in London, exposing the fact that politicians in the north of Ireland rule the judiciary. The biggest disappointment has to be the fact that had we not received justice in the Supreme Court in London, we would have had the opening to bring Martin’s case to the European Court of Human rights. This is an avenue we can still explore, but without having exhausted every domestic court in the country due to our denial to attend the Supreme Court, it will be somewhat harder to achieve a hearing within a realistic timescale.

 

Martin has now been in Maghaberry Prison for over three years. The course of the law states, as I understand it, if you have committed a crime, you are: questioned, charged, tried in court, sentenced, and then imprisoned. Within the past three years, Martin has NEVER been questioned, charged, or sentenced. He has served what amounts to a SIX YEAR sentence.

 

We are currently awaiting a confirmed date for a parole hearing. Martin is entitled to an annual Parole Board Review. In February of this year the European Court of Human Rights stated that 13 months was an unacceptable period of time for a prisoner to wait for a parole hearing. Martin has now waited 19 MONTHS WITHOUT A PAROLE REVIEW.

 

Today’s announcement of the High Court ruling has been a bitter blow to the campaign for his release, but it will not undermine my determination in seeking his release. If anything, it will harden my resolve for justice.

 

We need to expose this continuing tyranny. British government officials are quick enough to state that the world’s worst human rights abusers are Burma, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, North Korea, and Sudan. Over the past three years I have witnessed first hand everything these officials have done to Martin and I feel the British government is making a mockery of truth by not including its own name on the list above.

 

 

 

 

THATCHER’S LEGECEY – HE’S A SIR-IAL UNDESIRABLE

What elsegdoes Mark Thatcher have to do to lose his knighthood ?

 

was brought up to not speak I’ll of the dead – but doesn’t apply to her family.

Maggie was laid to rest this week and hopefully with her will go the hysterical arguments about whether she was a saint, sinner, saviour , or criminal. Following on as her remains were loaded onto the gun carriage were family members and friends including wayward son Sir….yes, SIR Mark Thatcher. How on earth did that scoundrel land a knighthood ? It turns out he inherited the title when his father died in 2003, but if ever there was a commentary on the discredited honours system then this is it. I mean, what’s a guy gotta do these days to be stripped of an honour ?

Sir Mark has a glittering career of underachievement with more than a whiff of criminality, under his belt. His first suffered public ridicule a couple of years after his mother came to power when he got lost in the Sahara Desert while competing in the Paris-Dakar rally. At one stage eight Algerian and British aircraft were looking for him and his mother (Iron Lady) had to write a cheque towards the cost of the rescue and settle a £11,000 unpaid hotel bill ! She should have heeded the warning.

Her less-than-golden boy moved to the sStates where he was investigated for tax evasion, forcing him to flee to South Africa where he was investigated for loan sharking. He has been refused residency in Monaco – where he is listed as an ‘UNDESIRABLE’ – Switzerland and the US, and pleaded guilty to being part of an attempted coup d’etat in Equatorial Guinea. I think you’ll agree it’s a pretty impressive CV for a knight of the realm. I mean Fred Goodwin was stripped of his knighthood and all he did was bring down a bank. Poor ooil Lester Pig got had his MBE taken away after he was banged up for tax fraud, yet Sir Mark sails serenely on. TThe nation of Tories claim Maggie ‘saved’ should do the honourable thing and bust Mark down to the rank of an ‘ordinary Joe ‘.

With many thanks to : Richard Sullivan, Sunday World.

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THATCHER STREET OR BOBBY SANDS STREET ? PARIS POLITICIANS DIVIDED !

Thatcher Street or Bobby Sands Street? Paris Politations Divided.

http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/thatcher-street-or-bobby-sands-street-paris-politicians-divided_275366.html?

Europe11.04.2013

By our dpa-correspondent and Europe Online

Paris (dpa) – A proposal to rename a Paris street after late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher has divided politicians in the French capital, Le Figaro newspaper reported Thursday.

One opponent suggested that Bobby Sands, an IRA hunger striker who died defying her, should be honoured instead.

The proposal to honour the “Iron Lady“, who regularly jousted with French leaders whether they were from the Left or the Right, came from a member of the centre-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP).

Following the announcement of Thatcher‘s death on Monday, UMP councillor Jerome Dubus said he would submit a proposal for a street or square to be named after her, as a “a small gesture for a great lady”.

His proposal drew contempt from leftist politicians.

The leader of the Communist group in the city council, Ian Brossat, who declared that Thatcher‘s “ultra-liberalism” had an “appalling impact on the state and the working class”.

Brossat said his group would submit a counterproposal – to name a street after Bobby Sands, “who died for defending the right of people to self-determination”.

Sands was the first of 10 IRA prisoners, who died on hunger strike in Belfast in 1981 over Thatcher‘s refusal to grant political status to republican inmates.

During the course of his hunger strike, Sands was elected to the House of Commons.

A Socialist Party councillor had yet another idea. “Dumbfounded” by the proposal for a Thatcher street, Christophe Gerard tweeted: “I will present a wish for a Shakespeare street.”

The proposals are expected to be debated at the next session of the Paris council on April 22. dpa cfb ar Author: Clare Byrne

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‘ MI5/MI6 LEFT ME TERRIFIED IN BID TO MAKE ME AN INFORMER ‘ !

” They offered me money and said they could help with my mortgage and help get me to Australia.

THE nephew of a prominent Co Tyrone republican has said he has been left ” terrified ” after attempts were made to rrecruit him as an informer while he worked in England. Emmet McElhatton, of Kildress, near Cookstown in Co Tyrone, has said he will never return to England to work again after claiming he was approached by MI5/MI6 officers four times in the space of a week last month.

The 21-year-old is a nephew off well known republican Kevin Murphy. Mr McElhatton said he had been approached in London on March 18 by a man and woman as he walked to a shop the day after arriving in the city to start work as a plumber. The Tyrone man said that during a series of attempts to recruit him MI5/MI6 officers had mentioned his uncle and also the republican ex-prisoner Damien McLaughlin whose early.release licence was revoked last month by Secretary of State Theresa Villiers.” They offered me money and said they could help me with my mortage and help get me to Australia,” Mr McElhatton said. ” I told him I wasn’t interested.” Mr McElhatton said that a day later he had received two calls to his mobile phone from people he beleived were MI5/MI6 officers. ” They had Northern accents but I think they were MI5/MI6,” he said. ” He rang me on the phone twice and again offered me money. ” I was walking through the house with the phone and he told me to come to the door so he was obviously watching me. ” This scared me and it meant I couldn’t even go out of the house to the shop. ” Work is scarce and I went out there to earn a living but now I can’t go back.”

Mr McElhatton said that when returning home from England on March 27, officials at Belfast International Airport had stopped him and ” pushed ” him into a room where he was meet by two men – one of whom had previously approched him in England. ” I kept asking could I leave and they said ‘ no’, he said. ” They were very rash and angry and used a lot of bad language. ” They offered me money and they said they could help me get to Australia. ” At one stage my phone in my pocket went off and I turned it off. ” One of the men demanded my phone and when I wouldn’t give it to him he twisted my arm behind my back. ” In the end they said : ‘ Are you willing to help us ?’ ” I said ‘ no ‘ and one of them said : ‘ The next time you see us we will be wearing forensic suits ‘. ” It was really frighting.” Mr McElhatton said he beleived he was being tergeted because of his relative. ” I am not politically involved in anything,” he said. ” I think I am being targeted because of my family background. ” The whole experience was terrifying, knowing I am being watched, my phone calls tracked and being followed.” Mr McElhatton’s solicitor Peter Corrigan said they would sue MI5/MI6 under the European Convention on Human Rights. ” We will be taking action against MI5/MI6 for an invasion of his privacy under article 8 of the European Convention,” he said. ” They were disturbing him while he went about his bussiness and work in London. This is improper policing.” Ulster Unionist Policing Board member Ross Hussey said attempts to recruit informers were legitimate in a bid to prevent dissident republicans taking lives. ” We have a severe dissident threat and that is visible to everybody. I understand people being approached,” he said.

With many thanks to : Connia Young, Irish News.

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I COULD LIVE ON £53 A WEEK CLAIMS UK CABINET MINISTER

” If I had to I would ” - Iain Duncan Smith.

Iain Duncan Smith’s minister’s salary is equivalent to about £1,600 a week after tax.

IAIN Duncan Smith yesterday dismissed claims that he was ” slashing ” welfare – and insisted that he could live on £53 a week. The UK’s work and pensions secretary said he was making the system fairer and giving people a chance to ” break free ” of benifits.

Ministers launched a fightback as 660,000 social housing tenents deemed to have a spare room begain to lose an average £14 a week in what critics have dubbed a ” bedroom tax “. It is part of a package of significant welfare and tax changes coming into force this month, which opponents say will hit poor familes and disabled people particularly hard. Changes to council tax benifits will see bills rise for an estimated 2.4 millon households in Britain rise an average £138 a year, with two million paying for the first time, an anti poverty group said. The system was yesterday hand-ed to town halls to operate but with 10 per cent less founding. On Saturday working-age benifits and tax-credits will be cut in real terms with the first of three years of maximum one per cent raises – well below the present rate of inflation. Two days later disabilty living allowence begains to be replaced by the personal independance payment which charites say will remove support from many people in real need. Later in the month trails begain in four London boroughs of a £500-a-week cap on any household’s benifits, and a new universal credit system. Piolt schemes for the flagship scheme have been scaled back amid reports -denied by welfare officials – that IT problems have derailed preparations for its rollout from October.

Labour claims the impact of the measures and other coalition polices have left the average family almost £900 a year worse off. Market trader David Bennett told BBC Radio 4′s Today programe yesterday morning that he earned around £2,700 last year from working between 50 and 70 hours a week. He said his housing benifit had been cut even though his children stayed with him several days a week and his overall income was about £53 a week. It was not clear why Mr Bennett was not receiving tax credits. Mr Duncan Smith, whose ministerial salary is equivalent to about £1,600 a week after tax, stressed that he did not know Mr Bennett’s individual circumstances. However, asked whether he could live on £53 a week, the former army officer, who married into a wealthy family, replied : ” If I had I would.” During the course of the day more than 21,000 people signed a petition on  the change.org website calling for Mr Duncan Smith to “prove ” he could survive on £53 a week. The text urged him to ” live on his budget for at least one year “. He said the government was only trying to get welfare ” back in order “. ” We inherited a problem where we simply do not have the money to spend on all the things people would like us to do. ” What I am trying to do is get this so we don’t spend money on things that are unfair.” He urged critics to get the issue ” in perspective “.

With many thanks to : James Tapsfield, Irish News.

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