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Máire Drumm Officer in Command (OC) of Cummann na mBan murdered by loyalists 28th November 1976 – RIP
On the 28th November 1976, Máire Drumm Vice President of Sinn Féin and a commanding officer in Cumann na mBan, was assassinated by loyalists while recovering in Belfast’s Mater Hospital in North Belfast.
Máire Drumm - Vice President Sinn Féin - Officer in Command Cumann na mBan.
With many thanks to: Stephen Codd – https: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=513465588832157&id=100005061609162
HAMSTRUNG HISTORICAL INQUIRIES UNIT (HIU) HAS NO CHANCE OF SUCCESS
YOU probably didn’t notice and there’s no reason why you should, but the same day that a certain loyalist blogger and serial self-publicist was giving evidence to Stormont’s Nama inquiry the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) snuck out its policy paper on implementing the Stormont House Agreement.
Needless to say it got it got virtually no coverage in the tidal wave of sensational allegations made about the alleged recipients of money from the Cerberus deal. If you’ve ever wondered why the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) decided to draft the Stormont House Agreement Bill 2015 and bring it through Westminister rather than allow the clowns in the big house on the hill to legislate, once you read the policy paper all becomes clear. Quite simply the British government intends to control the Historical Inquires Unit (HIU), on what information it can have and what it can reveal. Anyone who beleives that the Policing Board will hold the HIU accountable is living in cloud-cuckoo land. “The secretary of state will have oversight of the HIU regarding reserved and excepted matters.” The UK government will prevent disclosure of any material or information ‘likely to prejudice national security (including information from the intelligence services)’. None of this material can be published ‘without the consent of the secretary of state’. Now as we all know from past experience, ‘likely to prejudice national security’ is whatever our proconsul for the time being decides is national security. When you look at the policy paper you see it begins with a questionable statement and continues to ignore all suggestions and recommendations made by interested parties, nationalist political parties, NGOs like the Committee for the Administration of Justice and university academics. In short, it’s a classic NIO document. It begins with the unconvincing claim that ‘the institutions have the needs of the victims and their families are at their heart’. No. The needs of secrecy in the Ministry of Defence, the NIO and the Home Office are at their heart. It has never been any different in the secretive British state.
For example it was only in 2002 after Freedom of Information requests that details of Special Branch investigation into Charles Stewart Parnell and other Irish MPs were released and even then only in restricted fashion. The names of informers (touts) and amounts paid are still secret 125 years after the fact. Academics at QUB, Sinn Féin (Shame Fein) politicians and the CAJ among others recommended that former RUC and RUC Special Branch personnel be not employed in the HIU partly because they may have been complicit in collusion or cover up or both. The great merit of the Historical Enquiries Team was that its personnel were seconded from English forces and we all know why. However, ignoring all that, ‘the bill does not prohibit the HIU from recruiting persons who have previously served in policing or security roles in the North of Ireland.’
So the HIU won’t work and the NIO has made sure it won’t work because it will only investigate and publish what the NIO allows it to invstigate and publish. Then there’s the Independent Commission on Information Retrieval (ICIR). It’s modelled on the Independent Commission on the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR) which has worked extremely well. However, the NIO policy paper goes out of its way to make clear that while information given to the ICIR is inadmissible in court, if that information is obtained or can be obtained by other means then prosecution may follow.
That puts the kibosh on the ICIR because given the record of the PSNI over the past four years, starting with the Boston College fiasco (all hearsay) and continuing with their apparent trawling after the killing of Kevin McGuigan with almost a score of people arrested and released, who is going to risk giving information to the ICIR to pass to families? Inevitably individuals in the PSNI/RUC would be working backwards from the material a family recieved. In mitigation it has to be said on the basis of evidence so far, that’s only likely in the case of prominent Sinn Féin figures. Buried in the policy paper is our proconsul’s admission that ‘on some detailed questions covered in the bill, there is not yet a clear consensus between the five main North of Ireland parties. Work will continue to build consensus on remaining points of difference.’ Yeah right.
With many thanks to: Brian Feeny, for the origional story, The Irish News.
PERPETUATING INJUSTICE.
MI5, the British army and the PSNI have colluded to perpetuate the injustice we ‘The Craigavon Two’ continue to face.
That much is clear from the facts that emerged during our ‘show trial’ and subsequent appeal. The deletion of information to cover up wrong doing, the intimidation of key defence witnesses and the withholding of evidence able to undermine the state allegations serve to prove that. Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd spoke recently of ‘war junkies in suits’ working to perpetuate conflict. What he has failed to comment on is the ways in which this has manifested itself. These very same people (Shame Fein) and organisations have directly contributed to the wrongful imprisonment of two of his constituents. If his concern is genuine, will he now commit himself and his party to calling for an investigation into the role of state actors, including the PSNI, MI5 and the British army’s special reconnaissance regiment, in the injustice for which we may now spend the rest of our lives in prison.
With many thanks to: Brendan McConville, John Paul Wootton, Maghaberry Gaol, Co Antrim.
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Campaigner to speak at ‘Craigavon Two event
THE mother of an English man jailed under joint enterprise laws spoke on Thursday night August 6th 2015 at an event organised by supporters of two men wrongly convicted of killing RUC/PSNI constable Stephen Carroll.
Jan Cunliffe traveled from England to Belfast to speak at the annual event organised by Justice for the Craigavon Two. Her son Jordan was given a life sentence after he was convicted under joint enterprise laws of murdering a man in Wigan in 2007. Ms Cunliffe is a member of the campaign group Jengba – Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association – and her story inspired award-wining filmmaker Jimmy McGovern to make the acclaimed film Common, Which explores the issue of joint enterprise. Constable Carroll was shot dead by a Continuity IRA (C.I.R.A) sniper in March 2009. Two Craigavon men John Paul Wootton (JP), and Brendan McConville (Yandy), were later convicted of his murder and lost their appeal. Both men deny any part in the attack that claimed the 48-year-old’s life. Jan Cunliffe said she wants to raise awareness around the issue of joint enterprise. “We want to wake people up and make them realise there have got to others,” she said. “We are aware of the evidence and there was no jury and I am not convinced by the convictions at all. “It’s typical of joint enterprise cases and there are hundreds that I know about.” Ms Cunliffe spoke at St Mary’s University at 7pm.
Former RUC chief ‘failed to act’ over plot to kill Catholic officer
Family insist findings point to collusion
A FORMER RUC chief constable “failed to act” when he was “quite probably”aware of a plot to murder one of his own Catholic officers, a damning report has found.
The murder of sergeant Joe Campbell – who was gunned down as he left a Co Antrim police station – was one of the most controversial killings of the Troubles. The father-of-eight was hit by a single high velocity shot to the head as he closed the main gates of Cushendall RUC police station on February 25 1977. Sgt Campbell’s family believe his murder involved collusion between rogue elements of the police and loyalist paramilitaries. In his report yesterday Police Ombudsman Dr Michael said evidence of collusion was “inconclusive” but concluded the death was “preventable”. He said there was “sufficient, reliable evidence” that the then head of Special Branch and “quiet probably the chief constable were aware of concerns, which had been documented, about the threat to his life and failed to act upon them”. The RUC chief constable at the time of the murder was Sir Kenneth Newman, a former Metropolitan Police commissioner now aged 87. He told Dr Maguire’s investigators he had no recollection of the Sgt Campbell case. In a statement yesterday the murdered man’s widow Rosemary said she was unhappy with the report, which has taken 12 years to complete, “because it does not contain the full account of the murder which I had hoped for.” Sgt Campbell’s son Tommy insisted the findings amounted to “collusion”. “If you read the report what other conclusions can you come to…. Senior officers…. decide that it’s not worth their time to stop the murder of one of their colleagues what more stark definition of collusion could you get.” RUC/PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Alistair Findlay said the report “makes difficult reading”.
Staggering revelations in Ombudsman’s report ‘difficult reading’
The Police Ombudsman Michael Maguire said: “On the basis of the information available I can neither discount nor substantiate the allegations of a wider conspiracy into the murder of Sgt Campbell,” he said. When asked last night who was head of RUC Special Branch at the time the PSNI said it was “unable to provide that information”. However, The Irish News can reveal the man who headed the secret department was Mick Slevin who has since died. Sgt Campbell’s death sent shockwaves through the small seaside village which until that point had been relatively untouched by the Troubles. He is believed to have been gunned down by notorious UVF gunman and security force agent Robin Jackson who was associated with the infamous Glenanne gang. The report reveals that senior RUC officers were warned by concerned Special Branch members that Joe Campbell was under threat but they did not act. The ombudsman said the murder was “preventable” and that subsequent investigation into the murder was flawed on a number of different occasions”. It also emerged that police documents relating to the case have disappeared and that a retired RUC officer based in Ballymena at the time of the murder has refused to cooperate with the ombudsman’s investigation. Joe Campbell jnr, who first lodged the complaint with the ombudsman’s office in 2002, said the family’s campaign for justice for their father would go on. “Today we have got a report. What we don’t have, we don’t have the truth and we certainly don’t have any justice,” he said.
‘There was a threat on my father’s life. If you do nothing about it either before or after is it not collusion? – Tommy Campbell.
Three years after the killing retired RUC Special Branch man Charles McCormick was acquitted of Sgt Campbell’s murder. He was convicted of charges including possession of explosives and firearms and armed robbery. These were all quashed on appeal. A second man Anthony O’Doherty, originally from Portglenone in Co Antrim, was convicted of withholding information about the murder but later received a royal prerogative of mercy. A republican, O’Doherty was recruited by McCormick to become a Special Branch informer. In 2009 McCormick was rearrested and questioned about the killing and a file was later sent to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS). However, in 2013 the PPS directed that no action be taken. RUC/PSNI deputy chief constable Alistair Finlay said the report “makes difficult reading”. “It is clear there were significant shortcomings in the RUC handling of information prior to the murder and both subsequent police investigations into Sgt Campbell’s murder,” he said.
With many thanks to: Connla Young, The Irish News,for the original story.
Who is Sir Kenneth Newman?
BORN in Sussex, Sir Kenneth Newman was a well-known and respected police officer in England before he turned his attention to the North of Ireland.
He moved through the ranks becoming a sergeant in the 1950s, before being appointed a detective inspector with the Vice Squad in the early 1960s and later becoming a superintendent and chief-superintendent. In 1973, during the early years of the Troubles, his policing career saw him move to the North of Ireland where he took up the positition of deputy chief constable of the RUC. Within three years he became chief constable of the force. During this time he introduced the policy of Ulsterisation, a strategy aimed at giving the police a greater security role. The strategy saw the RUC replace the British army as the dominant security force in the North of Ireland. Sir Kenneth left the RUC in 1980 during the Hunger Strike period and returned to England. He then served for three years as inspector of constabulary and commander of Police Staff College at Bra shill in Hampshire. During his time at Bramshill he honed his public order skills. In 1982, he became commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and subsequently initiated a major reform. His reform included disbanding the controversial Special Patrol Group – a specialist serious public disorder team – replacing it with the Territorial Support Group. He also established an area-based policing plan, which moved resources into eight geographical areas. Having been knighted in 1978, he retired in 1987.
With many thanks to: Marie Louise McCrory, The Irish News.
‘Major probe only way to find truth behind murders and bombings of the infamous Glenanne Gang…..!!!
Calls for inquiry into all murders by loyalist’s loyal to the British crown amid collusion claims
‘This wasn’t just a few bad apples, this was collusion and this was policy – Peter Corrigan.
A PUBLIC inquiry must be considered into a notorios loyalist murder gang whose members included members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) the so-called new police service of the North of Ireland (PSNI) and membears of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) a North of Ireland predominantly Protestant unit of the British Army (which was disbanded) as was the RUC (disbanded), soldiers, a coroner’s court has heard.
Lawyers for one of the estimated 120 victims of the infamous Glenanne Gang have insisted only a major state probe, or a thematic inquest covering all the murders (deaths), can get to the truth of the controversial collusion claims. Police Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire is examining allegations (off corroupt) Glen Anne inst RUC officers, while the police’s Historical Enquries Team (HET) has found “indisputable evidence” of security force collusion in the muderous group. The call for another investigation into the actions of the UVF gang, which operated out of farms in counties Armagh and Tyrone in the mid 1970s, was heard as inquest proceedings into one attack is carried out began in Belfast. Mother-of-three Elizabeth ‘Betty’ McDonald (38), and Gerard McGleenan (22), were murdered when a no-warning loyalist bomb detonated outside the Step Inn pub and nearby houses in the village of Keady, Co Armagh in August 1976. Twenty-five other people were injured in the blast. It has been claimed that RUC Special Branch and British Army Surveillance personnel knew a bombing was being planned by the gang but failed to prevent it. Attorney General John Larkin has ordered a new inquest into the murders. Mrs McDonald’s widower Malachi and Mr McGleenan’s brother Robert, along with relatives of other people allegededly killed by the Glenanne gang, were in Belfast for the opening hearing before senior coroner John Leckey. He has been asked by a lawyer for Mr McDonald to consider an all-encompassing thematic inquest or to recommend a public enquiry. Last year a coroner in England asked the home secretary Theresa May to establish a public inquiry into the 2006 poisioning death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London, saying sensitive issues of national security could not be examined at an inquest.
Mrs May’s subsequent decision to turn down a statutory inquiry was quashed by the High Court, which told her to reconsider the matter. Mr Leckey stressed to Mr McDonald’s solicitor Peter Corrigan that the threshold at which a national security issue was reached was quite high, noting that allegations against a small number of officers might not be applicable. Mr Corrigan said the collusion claims in the Glenanne case were systematic. “This wasn’t just a few bad apples, this was collusion and this was policy,” he said. Mr Leckey asked for full written submissions on the issues involved so he could assess them more fully. The coroner told the court he had forwarded the broad proposals from Mr McDonald’s legal team to Mr Larkin but said the attorney general had said it would not be appropriate for him to comment at this stage as he was currently considering applications to order further inquests linked to the Glenanne gang. Mr Corrigan said it was vital the new inquest went beyond what happened in Keady to an examination of all the gang’s activities. “In order to reach the truth in relation to Betty McDonald’s death we must look at the broad circumstances in relation to the links to the Glenanne series,” he said. “You can’t look at Betty McDonald’s death in isolation from all other deaths linked to this gang.” Fiona Doherty, representing the McGleenan family, said her clients wanted the inquest to proceed without delay. Outside court, a tearful Mr McDonald described the hearing as “one more step” towards justice. “The powers that be should be ashamed of themselves, if they know what shame is – they kept silent, they said nothing, but they knew and could have prevented all this but they didn’t do it,” he said. In a statement, Robert McGleenan and his family said: “The family want to say they were ever informed police could have prevented the bombing, nor were they informed until recently that RUC Special Branch officers knew the identity of all those involved.”
With many thanks to: David Young, The Irish News.
SENIOR GARDA CRITICISES PSNI/RUC ON COLLUSION DATA !
” We weren’t given half a chance to respond “.
A SENIOR of critticised the PSNI/RUC‘s handling of intelligence about alleged collusion between gardai and the IRA. Detective Chief SSuperintendent Peter Kirwan said his force was not given a ” half chance ” to respond to claims made to the Smithwick tribunal despite usually having a seamless relationship with the PSNI/RUC and British security services.
A summary of intelligence which highlighted alleged collusion was given to the tribunal by PSNI/RUC assistant chief constable Drew Harris and made public in October. Mr Kirwan, heado of the security section of crime and security at Garda headquarters, said : ” We have no issue with the sharing of information on the workings of the relationship between PSNI and the British security services with the tribunal. ” The issue araises when the sharing with others directly impacts on the Garda organisation and we’re not given even a half chance of interpreting what it means.” Mr Kirwan said gardai had only been given the intelligence in a brief summary, as had the tribunal, and had not been given access to more detailed information to meaningfully investigate or act on.
Mr Justice Peter Smithwick is investigating whether gardai colluded with IRA units on the murders of RUC chief superintendent Harry Breen and superintendent Bob Buchanan – two of the most senior officers killed in the Troubles. They were shot dead in an ambush after leaving a meeting at Dundalk Garda Station on March 20 1989. Solicitors for their families urged Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan to investigate Mr Kirwan’s claims. ” It is very regrattable indeed to hear such a senior Garda officer complain that the wide-ranging and significant recent intelligence has not been properly shared by the PSNI and British security services and cannot be meaningfully investigiated without normal sharing arrangements being followed,” John McBurney and Erinie Waterworth said in a statement. ” Clearly this needs very urgent attention with a view to seeing all aspects fully and thoroughly investigated by the commissioner.” The 12 strands of live intelligence in the summary previously given to the tribunal were deemed reliable and accurate by Mr Harris, who denied the PSNI/RUC had “sat on” the information and withheld it from gardai.
It claimed gardai passed on information leading to the Provisionals ‘ murder of Lord Justice Gibson and his wife in 1987 and that a senior IRA member had gardai passing information to him. Mary Laverty, senior counsel for the tribunal, asked Mr Kirwan whether he beleived Mr Harris’s “hands are tied” as he had moved from his custom of sharing all information with gardai. He replied : “I can’t see that.” He said he has the greatest respect for Mr Harris. Ms Laverty also asked how computor hard drives were destroyed hours before hundreads of gardai, PSNI and customs officers raided a fuel-laundering plant along the border in recent weeks. “Somewhere along the way somebody had passed on information because of the number of people involved,” she said. “I do not want to comment too specifically on that,” Mr Kirwan replied. “Generally speaking, over the years, I can think of several examples where a large force of gardai are descending on a rural part of Ireland. “It’s very hard to camouflage that.”
With many thanks to : Sarah Stack, Irish News.
Related articles
- Families of murdered Garda officers call for inquiry (irishtimes.com)
- Ruc Murders: Garda Criticises Psni Over Intelligence Flow (belfastdaily.co.uk)
- Top garda criticises handling of collusion allegations (belfasttelegraph.co.uk)
- Families of murdered officers call for Garda inquiry (irishtimes.com)
- Kirwan in collusion data criticism (belfasttelegraph.co.uk)
- Garda responds to intelligence claims of IRA collusion (irishtimes.com)
YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO CALL ME A TERRORIST !!!
WHILE YOU LOOK DOWN YOUR GUN !
POSTED ON BEHALF OF : 
Northern Irish Is Not A Proper Nationality.
UK Citizens Reject “British” Label
A major survey and data-mapping exercise involving the Guardian’s readers has found well under half of UK citizens call themselves British.
Responses from more than 16,500 people showed that of the four countries of the UK only residents of England were the most likely to call themselves British when they were asked to “plant a flag” where they lived, with a large majority of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish residents rejecting that label.
Overwhelmingly, they instead chose to identify themselves with their home nation: compared with 6,594 who said they were British, 2,874 said they were Scottish, 2,386 chose English, 1,355 Welsh, 895 Irish, with only 129 choosing Northern Irish.
- UK Citizens Reject “British” Label (survivalblogs.com)
- What is The Difference Between English and British? (socyberty.com)
- APNewsbreak: 5 Irish dissidents charged (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Five Irish Dissidents Charged with Terrorism (time.com)
- Northern Irish name checked at Scottish Conference (libdemsni.wordpress.com)
An interesting story. Makes sense. Another grass-roots nail in the “New World Order” coffin.
SAS SOLDIER MADE UP ACCOUNT OF ATTACK,IRA INQUEST TOLD ….
An SAS soldier manufactured an account of the shooting of two IRA members in order to cover up the use of excessive force, a court has heard.
Dessie Grew (37), and Martin McCaughey (23), died when troops fired 72 bullets at the pair near farm buildings in Co Armagh in October 1990.
At the ongoing inquest into their deaths last Friday, the military witness, who gave evidence from behind a curtain at Laganside courts in Belfast, was identified only as Soldier C.
A barrister representing the men’s families, Karen Quinlivan, contested claims that he fired 19 rounds because he believed he was under attack, though it later emerged that the republicans did not shoot.
She said: “That is an account that you have made up in order to justify the extreme force that you used on the night in question.”
Soldier C confirmed that the troops gave no warning before firing, but he rejected claims that he had fabricated his account and said that he had opened fire in response to flashes that later emerged to have been caused by bullets fired by the soldiers.
The jury heard Soldier C had claimed to have opened fire because he believed his life and those of the other troops were at risk.
The inquest, which is in its fifth day, is one of several into so-called security force “shoot-to-kill” incidents which have sparked controversy and a series of official investigations.
Soldier C said he saw flashes through his night vision gun sight and moved forward with another soldier, firing as they closed in on the barn: “It’s a lot safer for us to do that than sit there and do nothing,” he said.
He said that firing stopped when they believed the shots being fired at troops had ended, but the barrister questioned this account because the troops were responding to flashes caused by their own bullets.
She said: “I am suggesting to you, Soldier C, that what you are saying makes absolutely no sense.”
The soldier answered: “That is your opinion and you are welcome to it.”
He added: “I believed my life and the lives of my team members were in danger.”
The inquest continues.
Related articles
- Sas Killed Ira Duo ” As They Lay Injured ” ! (seachranaidhe1.wordpress.com)
- Shoot-to-kill” inquest opens after 22 years of lies (seachranaidhe1.wordpress.com)
- Soldiers celebrated IRA death with cake (seachranaidhe1.wordpress.com)
- Police Given ” Shoot-to-kill ” Files Deadline ! (seachranaidhe1.wordpress.com)
- Pursuit of terrorists is ‘like a tiger hunt’, said British general (seachranaidhe1.wordpress.com)
