Today I lodged papers with the Police Ombudsman. Details will follow. Essentially, I contend that PIRA was so completely penetrated by the state in 1990 that the murders of my parents were the state’s responsibility. This the police failed to investigate. I have given details of the PIRA informers, whose names I know and I have asked the Ombudsman to examine all state files. The exercise has taken a year of my life, which I have gladly given, for my parents. Other events have given me this opportunity, which I failed to take for twenty four years. A number of people who treated me badly during that time and who gave me no support will have their own God to answer to. I thank those who have stood by me through all my travails for these years. I thank those from both communities, who, in the last twelve months have given me information and insight. The PSNI and the PPS failed to come up to the mark. Let’s see if the Ombudsman is hewn from different wood.
bbcni
There are no bad soldiers only bad officers
Kier Starmer made a number of criticisms of the PPS. Any prosecuting barrister could have told him of the failings if he had cared to ask. The service provided to victims has always been wanting. Frequently the defence is represented by senior and junior counsel attended by a solicitor and frequently the prosecution is in the hands of junior counsel or employed counsel attended by an unqualified clerk.
Worse still is the enormous pressure place on these clerks, who are left to be the conduit between victims, the witnesses, the court, the police, the directing officer and counsel. None of the PPS high command, mentioned by Starmer, has ever had a career prosecuting in the Crown Court and they are rarely seen there.
The problems suffered by the three complainants are not new. The victim is less well looked after than the accused. For example in Craigavon, the PPS has no dedicated , private, room in which to consult with victims. It was taken off them without a fight.
Of course like all organisations, found out at last , the promise is for new organisational structures. I’m surprised that nobody said “we have learned lessons”.
All the reorganisation in the world will be of no avail until there is a culture change at the heart of the PPS. Less obsession with ‘stats’ and more interest in the court process would be a start. The Irish Times today says that the two counsel involved have reported themselves to the Bar Council. Let’s see what happens to the civil servants, responsible for delivering the service.
Meanwhile Napoleon’s dictum is as relevant as ever.
The House of Windsor and terrorists
The Duke of Windsor shook hands with Hitler.
So I don’t see what all the fuss is about re Adams.
The Monarchy has always been pragmatic both for its own and the establishment’s interests.
Seamus Tracey refused to swear an oath to Her Majesty to become a silk. Her Majesty is now pleased that he is one of her Judges, having sworn fealty.
Nothing is ever as it seems……
Play up and play the game!
Trevor Ringland’s essay on Special Branch, in the Newsletter on 14th May is worth a read.
Trevor, solicitor, British Lion and sometime unionist , while making valid points about the standard of BBC journalism and the use of victims on its programmes, is caught up in the idea that , like good sporting types , the British Establishment ought to have gone after the ‘cads”.
The inescapable fact is that the state , in pursuit of peace in the City of London and elsewhere in the Shires, perverted not only the stream of justice in our society but also society itself.
His naive view that there should have been “a very active investigation” into such chaps is risible to anyone who has the least grasp of the last forty years.
A prominent rapist died today
The murder of “Jock” Davison, while hardly the saddest thing to happen this year, exposes again the double think in this society.
Despite being a terrorist, a member of northern command and no doubt a multiple murderer the Belfast Telegraph described him as “a former IRA ‘OC’ for Belfast and the BBC “the prominent republican”. You would have to look hard to find him described as a terrorist or a murderer.
Imagine a headline “Joe Bloggs, the well known rapist and child molester died today”.
Imagine the howls of outrage from the Sisters, Liberals and others, wanting to know why Joe had not been ‘brought to justice’.
The point is that Northern Ireland’s “free press” is in thrall to the Northern Ireland Office. Giving the Shinners a kicking via Mairia Cahill is good for the establishment , particularly in Dublin but don’t mention the war.
Lies and the RUC Special Branch
It is reported that Chief Supt. Nigel Grimshaw told the AGM of the Superintendents’ Association of NI that “we need to see the full implementation of strategies and policies which deal with those issues which continue to haunt us, parades , identities and in particular the past.”
He and his bosses would do the community and the past a great service by opening up the secret Special Branch files and confessing as to what is in them.
The concept that the identity or safety of paramilitary touts trumps the prosecution of those who should stand trial for the murder of innocent civilians is deeply wrong.
Of course the state could order the opening of the files or some Special Branch man, luxuriating in his Patton pension, topped up with further state work, could salve his conscience by telling the truth.
Come to think of it, there must be a few Branch men still left in the current PSNI high command, if Marty is right.
God moves in a mysterious way…
…….His wonders to perform….
After Hymn singing in Ballymena and poor manners exhibited by Robinson in East Belfast, I wonder why God deserted the DUP in South Antrum?
I suspect that the answer is that reasonably liberal unionists wanted the same and a man who showed some personal interest in the constituency.
Onwards now with Danny, not an intellectual giant but a decent man. Willie will have more time for pastoring and singing.
Onwards too with the final push for justice for my parents and for compensation for hundreds of families affected by Libyan Semtex.
Meanwhile in Frazerworld, not a sign of a document from the ROI or an inquest, just the same old bigotry.
The murders of James and Ellen Sefton
My research into these murders will be complete in the next ten days.
The PSNI and the Director of Public Prosecutions have failed to give proper regard to the points I have raised. Accordingly I am lodging a complaint with the Police Ombudsman.
On 6th June 2015, the twenty fifth anniversary of the murders I will publish here a full account of my allegations.
Hair today
The Times reports that scientists from an elite FBI forensic unit exaggerated evidence that help incriminate defendants in hundreds of trials. The evidence related to hair matching and has been found to be flawed in a significant number of cases.
I seem to recall that Ronnie Flanagan had links with Quantico, the FBI Academy. I wonder how often hair match evidence was given in Northern Irish courts and was it given by experts trained by the FBI?
I note also that Chief Constable Hamilton is said by the BBC to be a member of the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Leadership Association. [whatever that is]
Let’s hope that he, the DPP and Minister Ford spring into action and review such cases here.
Willie awakes
It’s good to see that the Reverend Doctor William McCrea has taken time out from pastoring and singing to front a statement about victims. He says that the DUP will seek a definition of a victim which excludes terrorist perpetrators.
Most often seen as a nodding head behind his more capable colleagues at Westminster, the reclusive MP for South Antrim [he has twice failed to answer queries from me] describes the current law as “immoral”.
This will be of huge comfort to the victims of Libyan Semtex who, after twenty five years, have yet to see any compensation and much action from the DUP.
Of the one hundred “demands” as the Irish Times described them today, only one relates to victims and this is it.
Victims and their survivors might ponder that in the voting booth.
seftonblog 