Tag: Theresa Villiers

Fake council posters calling for the release of ex-IRA man from jail angers unionists

The posters were erected in Derry and Strabane, and support the release of Tony Taylor.

The erection of fake council posters calling for the release of leading a Londonderry dissident republican has outraged unionists.
Yesterday afternoon two large posters calling for the release of Tony Taylor and bearing the official Derry City and Strabane District logo were erected.

They were placed on the roundabout outside the Guildhall and at the ‘Let the Dance Begin’ tin sculptures in Strabane by people in official high-visibility council jackets.

The council has denied it commissioned or erected the posters.

Mr Taylor is a former IRA man who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 1994, and again jailed for three years in 2011.

However, his licence was revoked in March 2016.

Nationalist and republican councillors have long called for his release, stating there is no evidence of any wrongdoing. Back in 2016, the council backed a motion tabled by independent councillor Gary Donnelly to call for Mr Taylor’s immediate release.

The message on the poster mirrors that of Mr Donnelly’s motion, stating: “Former British Secretary of State Theresa Villiers, in conjunction with unaccountable intelligence agencies, has ordered the incarceration of Derry Republican Tony Taylor without charge or trial. This council calls for Tony’s immediate release.”

A large blue Derry City and Strabane District Council logo sits below the statement.

DUP councillor David Ramsey said that the posters were “insulting, dangerous and damaging to community relations”.

“It is strange, to say the least, that an official council logo would be used to promote the release of a convicted terrorist,” he said. “This man clearly wasn’t reformed by his time in prison. For unionists, we just see this man as a danger to our community and to everyone in our city.

“I’m a councillor with Derry City and Strabane District Council.

“Our official council logo is there calling for the release of an unrepentant terrorist, which is very shocking.

“I would also say that it is dangerous because it’s like saying that the council – although they did pass a motion to support the campaign for his release – is promoting his release.

“It’s labelling the council as supporting a known terrorist.

“It’s like putting two fingers up to the law.

“There are major questions to be asked on how someone can use the logo in this way. It is not good for community relations at all. It is an insult and it is dangerous.”

A spokesperson for Derry City and Strabane District Council said that it did not commission or erect the posters.

Taylor has been in jail since March 2016, having previously been released on licence under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

He had been sentenced to 18 years in jail in 1994 for planting an IRA bomb in Londonderry.

He was also jailed for three years in 2011 for possession of a rifle.

Taylor was released from Maghaberry Prison in 2014, but two years later the then Secretary of State, Theresa Villiers, revoked his licence “because of the risk he poses to the public”.

No formal charges were laid against him.

Last year, Sinn Fein Mayor of Derry and Strabane Council Maoliosa McHugh came under fire for addressing a rally supporting Taylor’s release while wearing his chain of office.

The move sparked unionist anger, with accusations that the mayor was unable to represent the whole community. However, Mr McHugh said there was “a corporate position as far as Tony Taylor is concerned and I was reflecting the corporate position of the council as mayor”.

With many thanks to the: Belfast Telegraph for the origional story.

TALKS WILL BE SUCCESSFUL SAYS (J118) McGUINNESS

THE ongoing political talks will be successful “against the odds”, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness told a meeting of his party last night.

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He said the devolved institutions “are worth saving and I believe the vast majority of people share that view”. But he said the parties must agree to protect the most vulnerable and ensure Stormont (the big house on the hill) has “a workable budget so that public services are delivered to the standard the public expect and deserve”. The deputy first minister also called on the British government to accept they are part of the negotiations and are “not some kind of neutral arbitrator”. He also hit out at the government’s legislation on dealing with the legacy of the Troubles and said it is “in clear breach of the Stormont House Agreement”.

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“The legislation proposed by Theresa Villiers and her cabinet colleagues has more to do with covering up the role of the British state as a central player in the conflict and its collusion with unionist death squads,” he said. He said that the executive had succeeded in blocking the worst of the Conservative government’s cuts, including the introduction of water charges. He said lower student fees, free prescriptions and lower rates bills were “rarely highlighted successes of the executive and local parties working together”. The Mid Ulster assembly member warned that a return to direct rule will result in an “unrestrained onslaught on public services and the most vulnerable in our society”. Ms Villiers repeatedly warned that if the parties cannot agree a deal on welfare reforms, the British government will take back welfare powers as a “last resort”. Mr McGuinness said as well as welfare cuts previously announced, new cuts to tax credits in April will affect 120,000 families in the north.
<strong>With many thanks to: Claire Simpson, for the origional story, The Irish News.

Ex-IRA prisoner sees early release licence suspended

‘The secretary of state’s priority is the safety of the people of Northern Ireland – Northern Ireland Office spokesperson.

A FORMER IRA prisoner facing charges connected to a gun attack has had his early release licence suspended by the Secretary of State Theresa Villiers.

Thomas (Ta) McWilliams (47)

Thomas (Ta) McWilliams (47), from North Belfast, is on remand in Maghaberry Prison after being charged with attempting to murder police and possession of an assault rifle with intent o endanger life. The charges arose out of a gun attak on polic during rioting in Ardoyne on July 12 last year  when a number of shits were fired. McWilliams had previously served seven years in jail for kiling Norman Truesdale (39) in March 1993. He was released on licence in 2000 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. Mr Truesdale was shot dead in his shop in the Oldark Road in North Belfast. The IRA later said he was a member of a loyalist paramilitary organisation – a claim denied by his family. A UDA mural in his memory was later painted on a gable wall in the area.

During a court hearing last year it emerged that police beleive McWilliams drove a car contining the gun used in the attack away frm the scene. A spokesperson for the Northern Ireland Office said Ms Villes suspended McWilliam’s release licence “on the basis of information presented to her indicting that he has breached the conditions attached to his licence, including the condition that he must not becme a danger to the public”. “Mr McWilliam’s case will now be reveiwed by the independant sentence reveiw commissiiners who will determine whether to revoke or reinstate his licence,” she said. “The secretary of state’s priority is the safety of the people of Northern Ireland. The givernment will not hesitate to the use all the powers at its disposal under the law to counter the residual terrorist threat.”

With many thanks to : Connla Young, The Irish News.

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.

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English: Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of...
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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‘ 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.

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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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