Tag: Director of Public Prosecutions

RUC/PSNI decision on MRF shootings ‘travesty of justice’ – PFC

Press release

13th May 2014

THE decision by the RUC/PSNI not to fully investigate shootings carried out by the secret plainclothes British army unit, the Military Reaction Force, is a ‘travesty of justice’ according to the PFC.

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Following a BBC Panorama programme broadcast in 2013 the Director of Public Prosecutions asked the RUC/PSNI to investigate the activities of this undercover squad, one of whom, Clive Williams, is now living under an assumed name in Australia.

RUC/PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Drew Harris has now written to the Prosecution Service to claim that the,

“RUC/PSNI is of the view that none of the men featured have admitted to any criminal act or to have been involved in any of the incidents portrayed in this programme.”

Padraig O’Murigh, solicitor for the families of the two men (that is known) murdered by the MRF, Daniel Rooney and Patrick Mc Veispin watch.red below, told Radio Foyle that he was ‘not surprised’ and that it appeared that the RUC/PSNI had not even bothered to interveiw the undercover former British army soldiers featured in the programme.

The PFC and Justice for the Forgotten supplied declassed documents from Kew to the Panorama team and last year published a report on undercover units including the MRF availabe at: http://www.spinwatch.org/images/Countergangs1971-76.pdf – We also have been in contact with the solicitor for the families and are supporting their efforts to alert Australian authorities to the implications of the Panorama programme for Clive Williams.

The RUC/PSNI decision reinforces our long held view that the RUC/PSNI cannot under any circumstances be trusted to carry out impartial, independent investigations into so-called ‘legacy or historic’ cases. The RUC/PSNI is institutionally incapable of investigating killings and shootings carried out by an army unit that was operating in support of the RUC and whose activities in the early seventies were covered up by the criminal justice system  at all levels including the police. Any rigorous RUC/PSNI investigation would raise serious questions about the origional RUC investigation.

There are declassified documents which show extensive correspondence between the then DPP and the Attorney General following the ‘misaken’ arrest of a MRF unit which had just carried out a random gun attack on civilians. We would therefore urge PPS Director Barra Mc Grory to demand access to all the files held by the prosecution service on the MRF since it is clear that the RUC/PSNI is unlikely to open its files on the matter.

The Haass recommendation that an independent investigative unit should be created led by a figure with no links to the RUC/PSNI is the only way to resolve these issues. RUC/PSNI involvement in this ongoing cover-up is doing huge damage to the public confidence in current policing.

END

Contact Paul O’Connor 02871 268846 or Margaret Urwin 003531 8554300 (author of Counter-Gangs: a history of undercover military units in Northern Ireland 1971-1976)

http://www.spinwatch.org

Free Stephen Murney Now – What You Can Do To Help

 

FREE STEPHEN MURNEY ! SMASH INTERNMENT !

 

 

 

 

Tell your family, friends, workmates and neighbours about Stephen’s plight and encourage them to add their voices to the campaign for Stephen’s release.

 

Sign the online petition to have Stephen released

 

‘Like’ the Free Stephen Murney Facebook page

 

Join any upcoming ‘Free Stephen Murney’ protests or organise your own

 

Email info@eirigi.org to get ‘Free Stephen Murney’ stickers

 

Email info@eirigi.org to play a more active role in the campaign to get Stephen released

 

Contact your local elected representatives and ask them to highlight Stephen’s case and use their influence to have him released

 

Contact Barra McGrory, Director of Public Prosecutions, Belfast Chambers, 93 Chichester Street, Belfast, BT1 3JR demanding that he end the prosecution of Stephen Murney

 

Contact John Larkin, Attorney General, The Office of the Attorney General, PO Box 1272, Belfast, demanding that he put pressure on Barra McGrory to end the prosecution of Stephen Murney

 

Contact The Human Rights Commission, Temple Court, 39 North Street, Belfast, BT1 1NA and demand that they make representations on behalf of Stephen Murney

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TERROR CGARGES AGAINST FOUR REPUBLICANS TO BE “RESURRECTED” !

TERRORIST – RELATED chsrges against veteran republican Marian Price and three others will be resurrected, Nothern Ireland‘s director of public prosecutions said yesterday.

 

 
Even though the case against the four accused has been dismissed, Barra McGrory signalled his intention to press ahead by another legal route. He also insisted that papers had been ready in the case brought over events at an Easter Rising Commemortion in Derry last year. Price (57) had been accused of managing a meeting in support of a proscribed organisation.

On Thursday a judge threw out the case against her and three men due to delays in preparation of preliminary enquiry papers in the case. Price’s co-accused were released, while she remains in custody on a separate charge connected to the murders of two soldiers at Massereene Barracks in Antrim.

Mr McGrory, pictured, said: ” The papers in this case were ready to go to the defence solicitors. ” But these are very particular offences under complex terrorism legislation which require the personal concent of the director before they can proceed. ” There were specific matters that were under consideration in that regard.” He stressed that it was lawyers for one of the four defendents-beleived to be Price-had indicted they did not want the preliminary enquiry to proceed in full due to her illness.” It’s important the general public knows that the representatives of one of the accused wrote to the court and to the Public Prosecution Service and asked that the hearing be downgraded to a mention hearing only,” the director said.Vowing that the prosecution would continue, he added: ” This case will be recommenced in another way. This case will proceed-perhaps a little bit later now than would have been the case but for these events.”

SDLP Foyle MLA Pat Ramsey said Price should be immediately released and her licence reinstated. ” I have always contended that Marian Price’s incarceration was due to her political beliefs, and her arrest following an Easter Commemoration when the secretary of state revoked her license the day before, always give rise to a suspicion that there were shadowy motives for her detention – I still contend that,” he said. ” I am glad that today the curtain has fallen, and while there are other charges outstanding, I am calling on the Secretary Of State to reinstate Marian Prices licence and release her from Hydebank Wood while she prepares to answer these,” he said.

WITH MANY THANKS TO : IRISH NEWS.

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IRA convictions against husband and wife to be quashed

IRA convictions against husband and wife to be quashed

Scales of justice
The Court of Appeal was told that the guilty verdicts against the couple should be quashed
 

A husband and wife jailed for offences connected to the IRA interrogation and murder of a police informer appear set to have their convictions overturned.

James Martin and Veronica Ryan, from west Belfast, were both convicted of the false imprisonment of Joe Fenton.

Mr Fenton was a Special Branch agent shot dead after being lured to a house in the city in February 1989

The Court of Appeal was told that the prosecution accepts the guilty verdicts against the couple should be quashed.

Mr Martin, who was also found guilty of making property available for terrorism, was later sentenced to four years imprisonment.

His wife, formerly known as Veronica Martin, was jailed for six months.

Similar false imprisonment counts against the couple over the abduction of another informer, Sandy Lynch, in 1990 were overturned three years ago.

Matter of time

In an unprecedented move, the Criminal Cases Review Commission decided to refer separate convictions relating to the Fenton incident back to the Court of Appeal.

The body, set up to examine potential miscarriages of justice, refused to disclose the reasons for its decision.

But in court on Friday senior counsel for the prosecution confirmed its new position.

Gerry Simpson QC said: “The prosecution accepts that the convictions of these appellants should be quashed.”

One reason given was that all relevant material was not made available to the Director of Public Prosecutions, preventing him from properly considering whether Mr Martin and Ms Ryan should have faced charges.

Mr Simpson added: “The fact that such material was withheld from the director during the proceedings prevented the director from discharging the prosecution’s duty of disclosure, which had the capacity to affect the continuation or outcome of the proceedings.”

Although the court has not yet formally quashed the convictions, legal sources said the announcement by the prosecution meant it was only a matter of time.

A further hearing next month is expected to deal with any further disclosure being sought in the case.

Outside court Mr Martin and Ms Ryan’s solicitor, Kevin Winters, said they must now be given a full explanation.

“We welcome this second such decision. It is unprecedented that two separate cases like this stand to be dismissed on the same basis,” he said.

“The appellants are now entitled to know the reasons why they were subjected to what we say was a contrived prosecution.”

Mr Winters also vowed to press ahead with further proceedings, including compensation claims, following Friday’s developments.

With Many Thanks To : BBC News Northern Ireland.

 

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