OFFICERS TO GIVE EVIDENCE ON PSNI/RUC ‘BID TO SABOTAGE APPEAL’ !

‘It’s our case  that police have manipulated and subverted the appeal process - Barry Macdonald QC.

POLICE decision-making and arresting officers are to give evidence about an alleged attempt to sabotage appeals by two men jailed for murdering  Constable Stephen Carroll, a court has heard. Amid repeated claims that the PSNI/RUC tried to stymie the legal process by detaining a new witness, senior judges were told covert surveillance recordings were also to be examined.

Details emerged as an unprecedented bid to secure independent oversight of the ongoing police investigation was put back until October. Interference  has been alleged by lawyers for John Paul Wotton and Brendan McConville, both of whom are seeking to overturn their murder convictions. Constable Carroll was ambushed and shot dead as he responded to a 999 call at Lismore Manor, Craigavon on March 2009. McConville (41), of Glenholme Avenue in the town, is serving at least a 25-year sentence for the killing. Wotton (22), of Collindale, Lurgan, received a minimum 14-year term. Days before their joint appeal was to get under way last month, a man related to a key prosecution witness was arrested and held for two days before being released without charge. This man has made a sworn court statement branding his relative a compulsive liar.

According to defence lawyers police arrested him in a bid to pressure him into withdrawing his evidence and told him he would be discredited if he testified.The lawyers want the Court of Appeal to direct independent oversight of this aspect of the investigation. One option would be for the Criminal Cases Review Commission to intervene. A separate request has been made to the police oombudsman to look into allegations of misconduct. In court yesterday Barry Macdonald QC, for McConville, said : “It’s our case that police have manipulated and subverted the appeal process.” Questions to be decided in the defence application include :

• Was  the surveillance operation properly authorised under laws governing the use of covert techniques?
• Was the arrest of the new witness lawful and necessary?
• Was there any attempt to presuade or coerce him to alter his evidence?
• Has there been any police manipulation of the process?
• If so, what are the consequences?

Mr Macdonald said he intended to call the new wwitness and at least one solicitor to testify. Ciaran Murphy QC, for the Public Prosecution Service, told the court that all police officers who had either decided to make the arrest or carried it out would be expected to give evidence. All interviews and recordings should be gone through as well, in a process that could take days, he suggested. Mr Murphy said he was satisfied proper authorisation was obtained in relation to the covert material. “If there is action by the police either inappropriate or unlawful, past or future, there is a clear remedy open to the defendants,” he said. However, Mr Macdonald expressed concern that the application would not be heard until October, when the appeal itself is scheduled to begin. “In the absence of any measures to provide independent oversight of this investigation the court itself will have exposed itself to possible liability for breach of article 6 [ right to a fair trial ],” the lawyer said. The case was adjourned for a further review next month.

With many thanks to : Irish News.

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THE GUILDFORD FOUR : IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE

Gerry Conlan : ” The government knew we were being tortured “.

As one of the Guildford Four, Gerry Conlon spent 15 years in prison for an IRA campaign he knew nothing about. More than 20 years later he is still fighting for justice.

There are moments when I lose sight of Gerry Conlon through the fog of countless cigarettes smoked during our four-hour interview. He is in Liverpool to campaign for other victims of miscarriages of justice, and we meet in a rented apartment in the city’s Chinatown. We are joined periodically by others who are there to support the cause. Each adds views on the various injustices they have suffered and each contributes to the cloud of thick smoke filling the room.

In 1974, the then 20-year-old Belfast-born Conlon was arrested over the IRA pub bombings in Guildford which killed five people. He had never been to Guildford. But along with the three other members of the group that became known as the Guildford Four, Conlon was sentenced to life in prison on the basis of false confessions made after days of mistreatment by Surrey police.

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Conlon’s father, Giuseppe, was also imprisoned as part of a group known as the Maguire Seven. The basis of their convictions was forensic evidence – later discredited – which the prosecution claimed proved they had handled explosives used in the bombings. The group, including Patrick Maguire who was just 13 when he was arrested, were sentenced to between four and 14 years in prison.

In 1989 the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of the Guildford Four when it was found that crucial alibi evidence – proving Conlon could not have done the bombings – had not been shown to the defence. There was also evidence of police collusion on fabricating the statements – the only evidence produced against them at the original trial. The Maguire Seven later had their convictions overturned, but by this time they had all served their sentences and been released, except Giuseppe Conlon who, already in failing health when he was arrested, died after five years in prison.

The Gerry Conlon that stood outside the High Court in London after his release was a triumphant and charismatic figure. He told massed press and supporters that he was an innocent man who had spent 15 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. He vowed to clear his late father’s name and fight for the release of others, like the Birmingham Six and the Bridgwater Three, who had been wrongly convicted.

This is the Conlon that played repeatedly on the news bulletins. And this is the man portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis as the star of In the Name Of the Father, the partly fictionalised 1993 film based on Conlon’s autobiography. But Conlon’s feelings of triumph were short-lived and he was far from ready for the outside world.

“If you spend a few weeks in the Big Brother house, you get counselling when you leave to prepare you for life outside. I spent 15 years being moved from one terrible prison to the next, being treated like I was lower than the worst kind of paedophile. When I got released I was given £34.90 and told to go.”

When long-term prisoners come up for release, they are slowly reintroduced to the outside world, with supervised day releases, then weekend releases. When wrongful convictions are quashed, prisoners leave straight away, with no preparation for how to cope with life on the outside.

Conlon was initially on a high after his release. He put everything into making good his pledge to get the convictions of the Birmingham Six overturned. After months of frantic campaigning, he went back to his mother’s house in Belfast to take a break when suddenly the impact of what he had been through hit him.

“I came out of the bathroom and my father, who’d died years earlier, was sitting on the settee in prison pyjamas and a prison dressing gown. Since then I haven’t been able to get the terrible images out of my head.

“I never had one suicidal thought in prison. Now I have them all the time. I haven’t been able to have a relationship, I’ve turned to alcohol and drugs, it’s a constant waking nightmare.”

More than twenty years after his release, the man sitting in front of me is no less eloquent and determined than the angry 35-year old who stood outside court, but his mind has never escaped from prison. He speaks lyrically, without pause, recalling full names, exact dates and locations of the grim landmarks of his ordeal. But at every turn he is visibly haunted by the terrible memories that won’t stay in the past and the injustices which continue in the present.

Conlon believes that because their case caused such political embarrassment, there was what he calls a “whispering campaign” around Westminster after their release. That although their conviction was quashed, the authorities wanted people to think they were freed on a technicality, but may actually have been guilty.

He is angry that nobody was ever punished for their wrongful imprisonment. He is also convinced that it was not just the police that lied to get them convicted. He believes the conspiracy to jail innocent people went right to the top.

“The Government knew, right from the start, that we were innocent. They knew we had nothing to do with the IRA, but they didn’t care. That’s why they have a 75-year immunity order on our case. Because they want all the people involved to be dead before they release our files.”

Because this cloud of suspicion was allowed to remain, Conlon was denied access to psychiatric treatment. It was not until 2007 that he began getting regular therapy, and even then only one hour a week. This has helped, but is far too little, coming far too late, for someone who suffered trauma on the level that he did.

“I have what they call a disassociation problem: something comes in to my head and I’m back in prison. I’m back in Wakefield, being tortured… hands behind my back, gun in my mouth, it doesn’t go away.

“The reason I took drugs and alcohol was because I couldn’t deal with what my mind was projecting. To get some relief from the nightmares, day and night.

“But then the nightmares started breaking through with a sledge hammer, and once that happened it was a question of giving up the drugs and fighting to get professional help.”

The effects of his wrongful conviction went far beyond Conlon and the others who were wrongfully convicted. Prison visits were supervised and any personal details discussed would be spread around by mischievous warders, so they stuck to discussing pleasantries.

“I’d spent months in solitary, in the dark. I’d been beaten, had people defecating in my food, putting glass in my food. I’d seen people murdered. Yet I had to tell my family they were treating me well.

“When you come out you find the relationship with your family during your time inside was built on falsehoods. I didn’t know that my mother and my sisters were being strip searched and abused when they came to see me. You can’t calculate the devastating effect it has on your family.”

As we are speaking Conlon sees a news report on the TV screen behind me about the treatment of the former Guantánamo Bay detainee Binyan Mohamed.

“Nothing has changed. The Government knew we were being tortured in the 1970s. When I hear about Binyam Mohamed it all comes back. My mind flashes back to the beatings, the threats and the mental cruelty I suffered at the hands of the police.”

Conlon has become frustrated by the lack of political will to help victims of miscarriages of justice. The Miscarriages of Justice Organisation (Mojo) was formed by Paddy Hill after he and other members of the Birmingham Six had their convictions quashed in 1991. Mojo is campaigning to have a trauma centre set up dedicated to helping miscarriage of justice victims after they leave prison. They get sympathetic noises from politicians but little action.

In 1997, Conlon was given half a million pounds in compensation. Giving money to victims of miscarriages of justice is likened by Conlon to giving them a “bottle of whisky and a revolver”.

“They may as well say: ‘here’s the money, now go and kill yourself.’

“They gave me £546,000 – for taking me, torturing me and framing me; taking my father, torturing him and having him die in prison; then leaving me sinking in the quicksand of my own nightmares.”

In 2005 the Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven finally got a personal apology from Tony Blair. Conlon told the then Prime Minister that the apology would only mean something if it came with more help for the victims.

“Blair turned to [parliamentary private secretary] David Hanson and said: ‘David, get on to this right away.’ Since then we’ve had no help. We followed up on Tony Blair’s promise and were basically told to get lost. He lied to us – the apology means nothing.”

“If there was a trauma centre, within a year, you could probably be living a normal productive life rather than being haunted by nightmares.”

But picking up the pieces of those who have already been wrongly convicted is cure, rather than prevention. Seeing the mistreatment of suspects and innocent people going to prison makes him feel that Britain has not moved on since the 1970s.

“Back then it was the Irish, now it’s Muslims. But nobody is safe, one of the Guildford Four was English. Everyone thinks this happens to other people, but it’s closer than you think.

“Who’s to say you’re not going to be next. Look at Sally Clarke, she was a solicitor and she drank herself to death after she was wrongly convicted of killing her two sons.”

What is striking about Conlon is that while he is angry, he is amazingly lacking in bitterness. He is clearly suffering greatly with the horrors of 15 years being treated “worse than a twisted child killer”. He wants his case files released; he wants proper post-sentence care for other victims of miscarriages – but he is not consumed by hate.

A common theme he returns to is how trauma counselling is given to people who have experienced what, to him, would seem fairly mild. But every time he mentions another group getting “the best counselling available”, he pauses, and slowly emphasises, “and so they should, and so they should. But what about us?”

Conlon is now “full of” psychiatric drugs, and his terrifying flashbacks continue. But through the pain caused by his years in prison he finds some purpose.

“I want my father’s death to count for something. It’s the hardest thing you can imagine to be put in prison for something you didn’t do. If I can do something to stop it happening to other people my life will have meant something.”

With many thanks to : The Telegraph.

richard.holt@telegraph.co.uk

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CARROLL MURDER PAIR INNOCENT CLAIMS BIRMINGHAM SIX MAN

THE DAY OF RECONING FOR THE CRAIGAVON

TWO 

29TH APRIL 2013 

• Liverpool eye Andy Carroll, Hatem Ben Arfa swap?

THE MOST TWO EVIL BASTARDS THEY SHOULD ROT IN HELL !!!!!

THE police are trying to stop this ppicture circulating on the Internet as it will expose and uncover the real identity of Jon Venables ( Top ) and Robert Thompson ( Bottom ) who kidnapped a 2-year-old boy from his mother in a shopping centre and raped and brutally murdered him… I say they should be exposed for what they really are murderes… So share… Share… Share… Share far far and wide.

POLICE OFFICER’S WIDOW READY TO MEET MOTHER OF HIS KILLER !

THE widow of murdered PSNI officer Stephen Carroll last night agreed to an offer to meet with the mother of one of her husband’s killers.Kate Carroll said that she was prepared to meet Eileen McConville in the wake of her son Brendan’s conviction for the 2009 shooting.

The remarkable development came as 72-year-old Mrs McConville told The Irish News that she wished to express her ” deep condolences ” to Mrs Carroll as she offered to meet with her. Former Sinn Fein councillor Brendan McConville (41), pictured below right, was sentenced to a minimum of 25-years in prison after being found guilty of Constable Carroll’s murder in Craigavon in March 2009. His co-accused John Paul Wootton (21) received a 14-year jail term.

Last week Mrs Carroll revealed in an interveiw that she and the McConville family had acknowledged each other while seated in the public gallery during the recent trail. In appealing for a face to face meeting Mrs McConville, who believes her son is innocent, said: ” I had a brother murdered in 1977, his widow was left with five children and never got over the loss…. so I know how Mrs Carroll and her family feel.” I have thought about this many times and I would like to speak to Mrs Carroll.”

Last night Mrs Carroll said she would be prepared to take up the offer of a meeting. ” I would be happy to meet,” she said. ” I think it would heal a lot of the scars and be a big step in moving forward.” Mrs Carroll said she had also considered approaching Mrs McConville. ” I had talked to one of the officers in the case before about meeting her. ” I just wanted to explain my feelings towards her. ” They have suffered a loss too,” she said. ” I am a very fair person and I will never hold someone responsible for the actions of someone else.”

The mother of a man convicted of the killing of Constable Stephen Carroll has expressed her heartfelt sorrow for the murder and said she would like to meet the policeman’s widow. Eileen McConville also condemned outright the dissident republican murder of the 48-year-old PSNI officer in Craigavon in March 2009. Earlier this month her son, former Sinn Fein councillor Brendan McConville (41), was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in jail after being foung guilty of the shooting. His co-accused John Paul Wooton – who was 17 at the time of the murder – was sentenced to 14 years.His sentence has been referred to the Court of Appeal following complaints that it was too lenient.

Constable Carroll’s widow Kate revealed in an interveiw last week that she and the McConville family had acknowledged each other while seated in the public gallery during the lengthy trail.” They probably are devasted. They didn’t come for the sentencing. I am not gloating at their son and Wootton being sentenced,” Mrs Carroll said. Speaking yesterday from their home in Craigavon McConville’s elderly parents said they nooded to the grieving widow because they wanted to pass on their condolences. ” My heart goes out to her. She lost her husband and we have felt that way from the first day we heard of the shooting, even before Brendan was arrested,” Mrs McConville said.” From day one we have felt really, really sorry for her.

” I had a brother murdered in 1977. His widow was left with five childern and she never got over the loss. ” My own mother never got over it so I know how Mrs Carroll and her family feel. ” We want to express our condolences and say that we totally condemn the murder of Mr Carroll in the strongest possible terms, just like we would condemn any murder. ” As a family we have no time for that sort of thing.” I have thought about this many times and I would like to speak to Mrs Carroll. ” I don’t think anyone has the right to take a life, anyone’s life no matter who or what they are. ” And I really want to get that acros, to tell her that we are really sorry for her loss – but also that Brendan didn’t do it.”

Speaking about the trail Mrs McConville said she was keen to get across to Mr Carroll’s widow that they were there to support their youngest son and did not agree with the murder of her husband. ” We went a few times at the start. We were there the first day and Mrs Carroll sat behind us all of those time,” Mrs McConville said. ” We did nod to her and acknowledge her because we wanted her to realise that we felt for her too, being there in court in those awful circumstances.”

The trial of Brendan McConville for the killing of constable Stephen Carroll – the  first member of the PSNI to be murdered since the organisation changed name – attracted global attention. Eileen McConville and her husband William went to Belfast Crown Court on a number of occasions. However the two pensioners found it too difficult to sit through the entire trial. The Court was originally told that a special British army intelligence unit had attached a tracking system to Wotton’s car prior to the shooting. The prosecution argued that this showed the vehicle was close to the scene at the time of the murder.

However, it later emerged that the tracking device had been ” WIPED” and that data from the hours after the killing was lost. Three soldiers gave evidence anonymously but failed to explain how the data was deleted from the device. Solicitor Peter Corrigan of Kevin Winters & Co confirmed this week that he is preparing an appeal of the judgement. Mrs McConville said she believes that her son is innocent.” People only see a fraction of what is reported if there had of been a jury trail it would have been thrown out it would never have even made it as far as it did”, she said. ” I’m 72-years-old now. If Brendan was to serve 25 years me and my husband will never see him out. ” He has two children aged 17 and 16 and we worry about them as well.” I would like politicians and the justice minister to please just take the time to read through the evidence to see just what Brendan was convicted on. ” They had to get someone for the murder and he was the first person that came to hand.”

The murder trail also heard identification evidence from a witness known only as ” M ” , who has since gone into a witness protection programme. ” We had never heard tell of him before that day,” Mrs McConville said. ” Brendan never knew him, had never met him. ” He said he knew Brendan from he was a nipper but that couldn’t be right because we never even lived in Craigavon when he was young. ” He’s not even his age. He wasn’t in school with him or anything. ” You just have to hope that the appeal court judges will be fair and go on the evidence in front of them. ” I would also call on human rights organisations and international justice groups to take time to read through the evidence that was presented at Brendan’s trail. ” If it was my loved one or family member I would like to thin that the person who did it would be locked up rather than an innocent person be convicted. ” We know Brendan didn’t do it and that’s not justice, not for Mrs Carroll or anyone else.”

WITH THANKS TO : ALLISON MORRIS, IRISH NEWS.

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FAMILY’S FIGHT FOR JUSTICE MOVES ON !

INQUEST INTO BARNEY WATTS DEATH IN 1971 TO BE REOPENED !

THE FAMILY OF a North Belfast man murdered by the British Army more than 40-years-ago said they hope the truth will finally be exposed after the Attorney-General agreed to reopen the inquest into his death.

After more than four decades fighting to clear his name the family of Ardoyne man Barney Watts received notice recently the Attorney General will reopen the inquest into his murder and re-examine the circumstances surrounding his death. Last April the release of the Historical Enquires Team (HET) report into his murder concludes the soldiers ” shot the wrong man” and the findings should allow ” for the consideration of an apology at government level ” for the family.

The father-of-one was shot dead near his home in Hooker Street in 1971 after he had been socialising with a friend in the area. The army claimed at the inquest into his death that they shot the 28 year old because he was about to throw a metal object at them that was alight and later exploded, blowing him six or seven feet into the air. However the soldiers’ version of events were challenged by witnesses and forensic reports, with one forensic scientist who took swabs from Mr Watt’s body concluding no presence of lead had been found. The pathologist who carried out the postmortem also said there was no evidence Barney had been injuried in an explosion.

Barney’s wife Theresa, who was seven months pregnant with her daughter Bernadine at the time of his death, has spent the past 40years with the knowledge her husband was shot for no valid reason. Theresa Watts said this week that she always knew the truth behind her husbands murder but is glad another step on the road to a public acknowledgement of his wrongful death is imminent, ” The truth has to come out, I always knew it,” she said. ” I have waited long enough, it is over 40 years now and I have been knocked back so many times. I just kept trying.”

The Watts’ family Solicitor Padraig O’ Muirigh explained how the family were able to successfully petition the Attorney general to reopen the inquest.” There are a number of changes to the Coroner’s court in recent years which assisted the Watts  family‘s decision to make an application to the Attorney-General to reopen the inquests,” he said. ” The fact that the inquest will have to comply with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The fact that the British soldiers involved in the killings are now compellable witnesses. The fact that the House of Lords has made it clear that the Coroner dealing with an inquest has a generous discretion in relation to the remit of an inquest and the fact that a jury will now be in a position to reach ” findings”. “The decision by the Attorney General is a significant step forward for the families’ quest for truth. ” The Watts family are also considering civil proceedings against the MoD and PSNI in light of these findings. I have also written to the British Secretary of State, Owen Patterson, the British Secretary of State for Defence, Dr Liam Fox, and General Sir Peter Wall, Chief of the General Staff of the British Army to demand an apology for the Watts family for the actions of the British Army.”

WITH THANKS TO : GEMMA BURNS NORTH BELFAST NEWS.

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JUSTICE FOR MANUS DERRY !!! MURDERED BY A BRITISH SOLDER 1972 !

The poster for tonight s vigil in memory of Manus Derry murdered 40 years ago today by a British soldier.

POSTED ON BEHALF OF :     Mick Kelly

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SHOT GIRLS FAMILY DESERVE THE TRUTH !!!

 PRO FIDE ET PATRA

THERE HAS Been much discussion in recent weeks about how society veiwed serious crimes back in the 1970′s and the role of those who were in authority.

Comparisons have been drawn between the Child-abuse scandal in the catholic church and the actions of paraamiltary organisations which killed and maimed childern or deprived them of a parent through the use of violence. While some have argued that the 1970′s wer a time when society was changing and accepted practices and views were being challenged, it was also true that important issues were handled in a way which would be utterly unthinkable today.

Evidence of this has come from the family of 13- year – old Martha Ann Campbell, shot dead as she walked to a friends house in Ballymurphy, West Belfast, on May 14th 1972. Gunfire came from the direction of Moyard flats and the schoolgirl was hit by a stray bullet. She was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital where she was declared dead on arrival.This young girl was one of the 496 People to die during 1972, the bloodest year of the the Troubles.

Given the turmoil om the streets, with hardly a day passing without news of another death and bombings and shootings a frequent occurrence, it is not surprising that the legal aythorities struggled to cope. However, even during those dark times it was reasomable to expect that the murder of an innocent child would merit some form of a Police probe, with an effort made to take statements, talk to witnesses or collect intelegence reports and forensic evidence.Yet again the indications are that when the Historical Enquiries Team looked into Marthas death/murder there was no information on the case it beggers beleif what the then RUC were at.

Even 40 years on it seems increadible that no RUC investigation was carried out into the shooting of a child on a Belfast street. The HET has tried to uncover details about this murder and they did not find out one new piece of information. However, investigators have been left with little to go on and without fresh informationthey are unable to make further progress. The Campbell Family are desperate to find out the full circumstances of Martha’s death. Her Mother, Betty Campbell, is now 86-years-old and says, with considerable justification, that Martha is a forgotten victim of the Troubles.Four decades have passed since her daughter was murdered but this mother has carried the pain of her loss every single day.

Martha Campbell will be remembered during a service, Procession and plaque unveiling on Monday( Today) 14th May. Mrs Campbell said that finding out what happened to her daughter would be like & I quote ” winning the lottery”. This Mother deserves to know the full circumstances of her daughters death. It is not to late for anyone who knows knows somthing that can provide even the smallest amount of information or insight must come forward and ease this familys anguish and pain.

WITH MANY THANKS TO : IRISH NEWS.

Now the next extract is just a little bit from myself and also a few story’s that I have come across in recent days that I also believe are quite relevant to the above case so read on & sure you can let me know if you agree with me or not thank you for listening.SOMEONE OUT THERE MUST KNOW SOMETHING & I WOULD URGE THEM FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART TO ALLOW THIS OLD LADY THE DIGNITY & RESPECT SHE DESERVES IN HER OLD AGE. PLEASE IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING AT ALL HOW LITTLE SMALL PLEASE COME FORWARD.

Now this is part of a story I came across most recently the person speaking go’s by the name of wither true or not I cannot say but the debate was started over the following drawing !

FROM Richard McHarg: 

IRELAND is aalways an emotive subject, particularly in Scotland. Looking at things from a British veiwpoint, it would be easy to assign the label of  ” TERRORIST ” to the PIRA and IN LA.

At the time i was there , I did. Looking back at it from a Nationalist Irish perspective, these people represented centuries of frustration and fear. Britain, as well as the Unionist Community in N. Ireland, have treated them badly, and it could be said that the English and British State Forces employed terrorism to crush Irish resistance, historically treating the Irish as subhuman, simply because they were largely catholic. I won’t condone the killings of non-combatants but the Police  and the army were legitimate targets, and in many ways, Political assassinations have always been a method of advancing both Political  and military aims. I knew the risks as a British solider, and so did the guys in the PI RA and the IN LA . I saw the way the RUC occasionally treated people in the catholic communities and i was ashamed as a British solider over there providing fire-support for what was, unprovoked, aggression, masquerading as an interview”. I did wonder if i was supporting a national Police force or a protestant police force the then RUC. I’m also aware that many on the Nationalist side used criminal activities to their own gain and end. I was also involved in a number of pursuits as a consequence, It is not black & white by any means. People who feel oppressed will fight back, and it isn’t pretty by any means ! but for the record, my family are Presbyterian’s.

ANSWER:  From Anthony Waldron.

Sub-human because they were Irish not because they were catholic the English treated them like that when the English first came to Ireland back in the 1170′s ( The English themselves were also catholic at that point in history) the Irish were seen as savages & barbarians.

ANSWER: Richard McHarg

That is true Anthony, just as our own Gael’ s  were in Scotland.

ANSWER: Margaret J F Macjsaac 

I think that is were the deeper understanding comes from, we are Gael’s and therefore a threat so therefore to be extinguished. So to fight back is terrorism…. but that is depending what side you are on and who is doing the recording of

History….( CoS Family)….

Conversation ends. 

TODAY MARKS THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MURDER OF LEGENDARY FREEDOM FIGHTER JOE MCCANN

TODAY MARKS THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MURDER OF LEGENDARY FREEDOM FIGHTER JOE MCCANN….Joe McCann was appointed commander of the OIRA’s Third Belfast Battalion. By 1970, violence in the North of Ireland had escalated to the point, where British soldiers were deployed there in large numbers. From 3–5 July 1970, McCann was involved in gun battles during the Falls Curfew between the Official IRA and up to 3,000 British soldiers in the Lower Falls area that left four civilians dead from gunshot wounds, murdered by the British Army, another killed after being hit by an armoured car and 60 injured. On 22 May 1971, McCann’s unit ambushed a British patrol, killing one soldier.
In another incident McCann led a unit which captured 3 UVF members in Sandy Row. The UVF had raided an OIRA arms dump earlier that day and the OIRA announced they would execute the three prisoners if the weapons were not returned. McCann eventually released the three UVF members because they were “working class men like yourself”.
His most famous act came on 9 August 1971 when his unit took over the Inglis bakery in the Markets area and fortified it after the introduction of internment without trial by the Northern Ireland authorities. They defended it throughout the night from an incursion by 600 British soldiers, looking to arrest suspects. The action allowed other IRA members to slip out of the area and avoid arrest. He was photographed during the incident, holding an M1 carbine, against the background of a burning building and the Starry Plough flag; one of the most striking early images of The Troubles.

by: Derry Doire

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Stephen Carroll murder case: Sharon Wootton admits charge

Sharon Wootton admitted obstructing police by removing a computer from her house

The mother of one of the men accused of the murder of Constable Stephen Carroll has pleaded guilty to obstructing police investigating the killing.

Sharon Wootton admitted that on a date between March 8 – 11 2009, she removed computer equipment from her Lurgan home to another address.

She had originally faced a charge of perverting the course of justice.

However, Lord Justice Girvan acquitted her of that count after the Crown offered no further evidence on it.

Wootton’s 20-year-old son John Paul Wootton from Collindale, Lurgan, and former Sinn Fein councillor Brendan McConville, 40, of Glenholme Avenue, Craigavon both deny murdering Constable Carroll on March 9 2009.

The officer was shot dead after responding with colleagues to a 999 call at Lismore Manor in Craigavon.

Defence QC Karen Quinliven applied for continuing bail for Sharon Wootton while pre-sentence probation reports are completed.

Lord Justice Girvan adjourned passing sentence until a date to be fixed.

Stephen Carroll trial: Army ‘reluctant to hand over device’

The Constable Stephen Carroll murder trial has heard a specialist Army unit was reluctant to hand over vital surveillance information to police.

Constable Stephen Carroll was shot dead in Craigavon in March 2009

Constable Carroll was shot dead in Craigavon in March 2009.

An under cover military unit had placed a tracking device on the car of one of the accused, John Paul Wootton.

On Tuesday, a police inspector revealed that the Army only gave the device to detectives when the threat of a warrant being obtained was put to them.

The officer, Det Ch Insp Harkness, said that he had never before dealt with such a device and that no such tracker had ever been used in evidence in the UK before.

The prosecution contends that the device reveals that Mr Wootton’s car was used to transport Constable Carroll’s killers to and from the murder scene.

Mr Wootton, 20, of Collindale, Lurgan and Brendan McConville, 40, of Glenholme Avenue, Craigavon, both deny murdering Constable Carroll.

Mr Wootton’s 48-year-old mother Sharon, of the same address, denies perverting the course of justice.

Earlier, a witness told the trial Mr Wootton’s car was parked close to where the gunman fired from.

Constable Carroll was shot dead after responding to a 999 call

Witness K, a navigation specialist engineer who gave evidence from behind a screen, said the tracking device showed the car’s location.

Witness K said he examined data from a GPS tracking device which the Army had hidden on Mr Wootton’s car.

He said he had examined more than 150 location fixes from the device and at the time of the murder the car was stationary on the Drumbeg estate, which is close to the murder scene.

He also said the data revealed that 20 minutes after the shooting the car was near Mr McConville’s home.

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