With many thanks to: Shane Ryan O’Hanley – Irish and Palestinian Internationalist Solidarity.
A former PSNI/RUC officer who tended to a dying colleague after a dissident republican group CIRA shot him has addmitted faking documents and interviews during an investigation.
With many thanks to: staff reporter: The Belfast Telegraph.
SOLICITORS acting on behalf of (Craigavon Two) two men convicted of the murder of PSNI/RUC police officer Stephen Carroll have written to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) after new details about the case were made public.
Brendan (Yandy) McConville (43) and John Paul (JP) Wootton (23) were convicted of killing the officer in Craigavon in March 2009. Both men have denied any part in the Continuity IRA (CIRA) attack that claimed the PSNI/RUC man’s life as he answered a 999 emergency call. It emerged this week, in a European Court judgement, that the gun used to kill Constable Carroll, pictured below, was discovered by police after a tip-off by a suspect, who was in custody at the time.
The suspect is referred to in court papers only as RE. The suspect was initially charged with withholding information about Mr Carroll’s murder but these charges were subsequently dropped in mid 2010. Brendan McConville’s solicitor Darragh Mackin, of KRW Law, has written to the PPS requesting notes taken during police interviews with RE and asking what happened to the charges levelled against him.
Details of the case emerged after RE took a case against the British government over concerns that the PSNI/RUC was carrying out surveillence of conversations between him and his solicitor.
The man was arrested and questioned three times in the weeks after the officer was killed. Court papers reveal that he was assesssed by a medical officer as a “vulnerable person” and therefore should not have been interviewed – unless in exceptional circumstances – in the absence of an appropriate adult. Court papers reveal that before being seen by a solicitor or appropriate adult the man asked to speak to investigating officers “off the record”. During the course of that interview he “gave information which led to the recovery of the gun used in the constable’s murder.”
His solicitors subsequently brought a separate case on his behalf to the European Court which this week found that secret surveillance carried out on solicitors and their clients is in breach of European Law. During the first two periods of detention his solicitor received assurances that consultations would not be subject to covert surveillance. During a third arrest the PSNI/RUC refused to give an assurance.
The court ruling found that the man’s Article Eight rights under the European Court of Human Rights had been violated.
Article Eight protects the right for private and family life, home and correspondence.
Nichola Harte, of Harte, Coyle, Collins Solicitors, who represented RE, said the ruling has wider implications. “The European Court criticised the inadequate procedures currently in place in the North of Ireland for the handling, use, storage and destruction of information obtained from covert surveillance of legal consultations,” she said. “The police arrangements were and continue to be a violation of the right to respect for private life. “This landmark European ruling has implications for all legal consultations in police stations if subjected to covert surveillance.”
With many thanks to: Connla Young, The Irish News. For the origional story.
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.
THREE leading dissident republicans charged with conspiracy to murder were subject to covert surveillance on an unprecedented scale, The Irish News has learned.
Colin Duffy, Alec McMcrory, and Harry Fitzsimmons appeared in court this week accused of paramilitary offences. No details were given of the evidence against them. However, it is understood that all three have been under a lengthy period of sophisticated surveillance with MI5 assisting the PSNI/RUC in tracking their movements. The levels of monitoring were unprecedented in scale and included the placing of tiny listening devices in items of clothing. Tracking devices were also used and open spaces – including a green in Co Armagh were Duffy (46) was known to frequently walk – were fitted with hidden spying technology. Gardai have also been assisting the PSNI/RUC as part of a cross-border crackdown on dissidents, monitoring suspects when they travelled to the Republic.
A house in Co Louth visited by Duffy and former IRA prisoner McCrory (52) is believed to have been under surveillance and fitted with listening devices. Under Home Office guidelines authorisation for ‘intrusive ssurveillance’ must be given by the secretary of state and can be granted for periods of six months at a time, providing its use is in the interests of ‘national security’. Although covertly gathered evidence has been used in the North of Ireland in the past, the monitoring surrounding Duffy is on a level never seen before. During the trial of teenager John Paul Wotton for the murder of Constable Stephen Carroll the court was told a military tracking device had been fitted to his vehicle. On Monday a workman in Craigavon, Co Armagh, found a military tracking device under the wheel arch of his van. This week Duffy, Fitzsimmons and McCrory were each charged with conspiracy to murder, conspiring to possess firearms and explosives with intent to endanger life and belonging to a proscribed organisation. McCrory and Fitzsimmons were also accused of involvement in a gun attack on Crumlin Road in North Belfast on December 5 and possession of a firearm with intent. The offences cover a period between January 1 and December 16 this year, although Fitzsimmons (45) was only freed from prison in May after serving a jail term for the attempted kidnapping of Bobby To hill in 2004. The trio did not seek bail.
With many thanks to: Allison Morris, The Irish News.
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Justice for the Craigavon Two
Sentenced by a single Judge in a non jury Diplock court
On the evidence of a paid perjurer, an eyewitness whose eyewitness testimony was medically impossible.
Conflicting, contradictory and inconclusive forensics.
Involvement by MI5 and British Army special forces in evidence tampering, yet this evidence was still used in court.
An appeal that opened in April that was adjourned following revelations the Police Service of Northern Ireland had sabotaged the appeal process by arresting and pressuring a new defense witness.
Watch closely the reopening of the Craigavon Two appeal on October the 8th, based on this case anyone could fall foul of this system.
You are Brendan McConville, You are John Paul Wootton!!!
Justice for the Craigavon Two.
A MORTAR-BOMB attack was being planned on a security force vehicle in Co Armagh, the High Court heard yesterday.
Prosecutors said reconnaissance was used against police and prison staff, including a governer, over a two-year period. Suspects drove past one target’s home more than 50 times in eight days, a judge was told. Details emerged as one of three men accused of a plot to bomb and killwas refused bal. Damien Duffy (43), of Campbell Walk in Lurgan, Co Armagh, is charged with conspiracy to murder, conspiring to cause an explosion and collecting iformation likely to be used to terrorists. He was arrested in May last year after a nine-month police iinvestigation involving surveillance, tracking and covert recordings. The alleged offences, stretching back to November 2009, relate to police and prison officers ‘ movements in the Lurgan and Craigavon areas, their addresses and routes taken to and from work. A prosecution barrister said audio recordings showed the Kilmore Road and Cottage Road junction in Lurgan was to be used for a mortar-bomb attack on security forces. The location is on a route regularly used by police and prison staff, the court heard. Alleged discussions between the suspects including references to lines of sight, getting angles right and breaking cover. The barrister said attack planning was carried out on two identified prison officers as they came and went to Maghaberry Prison in Co Antrim.
Lord Justice Coghlin was told that the governor’s home in a rural setting was passed several times for no apparent legitimate reason. The barrister said two of the accused scouted one officer’s home on 54 occasions – including 21 times in a 90-minute period. According to police, anti surveillance techniques and U-turns were performed. Discussions about the areas for carrying out an attack, escape routes and “giving it 20 seconds to get down there” were recorded, the court heard. It was accepted that forensic analysis of the audio recordings was unable to attribute any of the remarks to Duffy. However, the court was told independent witnesses said he had been in the car used during the alleged offences. Mark Mulholland QC, defending, said Duffy should be released due to the “paucity” of evidence and delays in processing the case. “The starting point is what can be aattributed to this accused and at no time is there any express reference to targeting, weaponry or anything of that nature,” he said. “What appears to be a case grounded principally on what can be inferred or speculated was at hand does not pass muster. “In the period of time the accused was under surveillance, whatever was being suggested by the prosecution absolutely nothing happened.” Lord Justice Coghlin said an explanation would eventually have to be given. Separating terrorist offences from other crimes, he said: “It’s nothing whatever to do with the political beliefs of those charged. “It’s to do with a very small group of people who are not prepared to take part in a democracy but wish to achieve what they beleive to be some firm of political end by killing and injuring people. “In cases of terrorism the offence is driven by a warped political ideology. Therefore there is a significantly higher risk of further offences.”
With many thanks to : The Irish News.
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Wednesday 4 September 2013 14.11 BST
Craigavon Two suitable scapegoats in wake of killing backlash, say supporters
An appeal by two men convicted of the murder in 2009 of a police officer in Northern Ireland is scheduled for October. Supporters, including one of the Guildford Four, say the so-called Craigavon Two are victims of a miscarriage of justice.
Stephen Carroll, a constable with the Police Service of Northern Ireland, was shot dead in Craigavon, in County Armagh, in 2009 as he responded to a 999 call. He was the first police officer in Northern Ireland to be murdered after the Good Friday agreement. His death caused deep disquiet on both sides of the political divide. In 2012, two republicans, Brendan McConville and John Paul Wootton, were found guilty of his murder and jailed for life.
At the pair’s appeal, it will be claimed that the main witness against them, a man known only as witness M, is a “compulsive liar”. The case has attracted attention because a new defence witness was arrested in April, just before the appeal was originally due to be heard, which led to a postponement until October.
“It seems to us there is such a high level of uncertainty as to the factual circumstances surrounding the position that we are faced with having no alternative but to adjourn this appeal,” said the lord chief justice, Sir Declan Morgan, in postponing the appeal.
The defence lawyers have argued that the prosecution case was based on circumstantial evidence, mainly from witness M. They claim that he was known as a “Walter Mitty” character and that his evidence cannot be relied on.
The defence barrister Barry Macdonald told the earlier appeal court hearing that the prosecution case in the original trial had relied heavily on this evidence in which M claimed to have seen McConville among a group of men close to the scene where Carroll was killed.
Macdonald said a new witness had emerged who had made a sworn affidavit in which he described M as a compulsive liar. The barrister alleged that police had arrested this new witness and questioned him before he was released without charge. “It appears to have been an attempt to sabotage the appeal,” Macdonald told the court.
A campaign, which has the backing of Gerry Conlon, who was falsely imprisoned for 15 years as a member of the Guildford Four before being released in 1989, argues that the case against McConville and Wootton was “inconclusive, contradictory and in places discredited”.
Conlon said: “We can’t have innocent people going to jail and 15 years down the line them being released, their lives ruined … I believe a miscarriage of justice took place here on the basis of all the evidence I have read.”
Campaigners claim the men were victims of a system that “sought to find suitable scapegoats in the wake of the political and media backlash following the killing”.
Carroll was not only the first officer to be killed after the Good Friday agreement but his death came shortly after the attack on the Massereene barracks in which two British soldiers were killed. All three killings were widely condemned.
With many thanks to : Duncan Campbell, The Guardian.
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9 Jan 2012
DNA and car tracker ‘link suspects to Northern Ireland policeman’s death’
Trial starts into 2009 terrorist killing of PSNI officer Constable Stephen Carroll in Craigavon, north Armagh
24 May 2011
A “RRELUCTANT store man” who was caught red handed with a small arsenal of weaponry has been jailed for more than three years.
Belfast Recorder Judge David McFarland told 49-year-old Thomas John Edwards he accepted he had been under a degree of pressure from others to become a “reluctant store man” for the items. He sentenced him to six and a half years with half spent on licence. Just before his trial was due to start last July EEdwards, from Tullygalley in Craigavon, pleaded guilty to having guns, ammunition and explosives with intent to enable others to endanger life on 10 August 2011. Edwards also admitted possessing a balaclava for terrorist purposes and providing his home, for terrorism. Prosecuting QC Ciaran Murphy told Belfast Crown Court that in an intelligence led operation, police searched Edwards home and uncovered the items at locations in the house.
An AK47 assault rifle along with numerous bullets were found. The grip stock and trigger mechanism for a recoil less improvised grenade launcher was uncovered in a bag in the kitchen cupboard while 5.1 grammes of black arms propellant was hidden inside s pepper pot. Mr Murphy said that wrapped in a yellow in a yellow duster in the same cupboard was an automatic Beretta pistol with a loaded magazine. He added that in total, police found 46 bullets and told the court how small arms propellant was commonly used in pipe bombs while a grenade launcher was first used in an attack in Belfast in May 1991 but “has been encountered on a number of other occasions”. Following the sentencing, PSNI Detective Superintendent Glenn Wright of Serious Crime Branch said: “Mr Edwards is in jail, the weapons are off the streets. This is yet aanother example of the PSNI’s determination to protect the community and bring terrorists to justice.”
With many thanks to : The Irish News.
A SOLICITOR for one of the men convicted of Constable Stephen Carroll’s muder has accused the PSNI of “intimidation” of defence lawyers in the case and said he was “terrified” that he would be arrested for representing his client.
Darragh Mackin made the remarks during a public discussion organised by supporters of Co Armagh men Brendan McConville and John Paul Wotton who were convicted of shooting the officer dead in Craigavon in 2009. McConville, from Lurgan, was jailed for a minimum of 25 years while Wotton (21), from Craigavon, was told he will have to serve at least 14 years following their trial in 2011. Both men have continued to protest they had no part in the Continuity IRA sniper attack. Campaigners and the men’s legal teams have raised questions about eyewitness and forensic evidence. Last Friday Mr Mackin claimed that the PSNI had attempted to “undermine” an appeal hearing that was due to be held in April. He confirmed that his office has contacted the UN special rapporteur in connection with the case. Controversy erupted on the day of the appeal was due to begin after a defence barrister claimed police had attempted to “sabotage” the hearing.
It was also revealed that a new defence witness was arrested and questioned by police before being released without charge days before the appeal was due to begin. McConville’s legal team bbelieve they and the new witness had been under security-force surveillance in the lead-up to the appeal hearing, which will now be held in October. The solicitor says he and a colleague, Peter Corrigan, feared that that they too would be arrested.
“I will never forget the day when we went down to Brendan McConville’s appeal, obviously with members of the farmily, and it’s an absolutely terrifying fact to think there’s a chance – and Peter would agree with me on this – that me or him or both of us will be arrested at that point in time,” he said. “This has gone past the issue of [the] appeal. This has become intimidation in my view and I think a number of people in this room will agree with me, it’s now intimidatIon.” A PSNI spokesman said: “Since this matter is currently before the courts, we are unable to comment.” Shame Fein policing board member Pat (the rat) Sheehan told those at the discussion that the case “looks like a clear mmiss carriage of justice”. A PSNI spokesman said: “As a member of the board, Mr Sheehan will have opportunities to raise issues with senior officers in both open and private sessions.”
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