james sefton

Money talks

It’s twenty years since I first took active steps to try and find the killers of my parents.

A Crown prosecutor for many years, it was slowly dawning on me that what I had been told, professionally, was not what it seemed in many cases.

I started gently, asking for an update on the killings, which had happened twelve years earlier. It might surprise the reader to know that in those twelve years , not one officer in charge had ever contacted me with an update.

My first enquiries were met with the usual obfuscation and it took many months before I had an intelligent response.

That was to tell me almost nothing. 

Where was the file? Well, it was clear that it had been put away many years before and no detective  had given it a second thought in those years.

What followed was a succession of promises from lots of senior officers who , shortly afterwards retired.

I will not trouble you Dear Reader, with the HET or the Police Ombudsman, because my target is elsewhere.

Follow the money

The Patten payment scheme, ostensibly designed to remove sufficient officers to achieve some parity of religious breakdown in the police, was a bonanza to members of the RUC.

A fifty year old superintendent with thirty years enhanced pensionable service could expect a lump sum of £300,000 and an annual pension of £27,000.

A constable in similar circumstances could expect a lump sum of £134,000 and an annual sum of £13,000.

There were other benefits too. Money to train to be a mountain guide in the Mournes, for example.

Four thousand officers took the Patten offer.

Then there were revised injury on duty schemes.

Then there was a hearing loss scheme.

All-in-all the State paid out more than half a billion pounds to ex-RUC officers.

What did it get in return?

The absolute unwavering silence of every member of the RUC about any information relating to wrongdoing by its members, even if it resulted in the death of a colleague.

For the State, the mirror image is the menu of on-the-runs, Royal Pardons and huge sums paid to SFIRA.

In the last twenty years a number of police officers, known to me personally, and for whom, on occasions I had given advice, pro bono; could have given me information, evidence, a hint, a ‘steer’ or a nod, about the circumstances of the killing of one of their own [and his wife].

Apart from one seriously unwell detective, not one of these heroes opened their mouths. 

Let me give you an example, Dear Reader.

Alan Simpson was the senior CID officer in D Division on the day of the bomb, 6th June 1990. I met him, I think , that day or the next. I certainly met him at the inquests, because he was managing them.

Years on, an intermediary, who I had helped, suggested that Simpson might be willing to meet me and  discuss the case. A date was set , I awaited his arrival but was told instead that he was too ill to meet me.

I suggested that, if I could communicate by email, that would suffice.

He provided his email.

I wrote to him.

On 7/23/20, peter sefton  wrote:

“Alan

Thank you for providing your email address.
My parents were murdered by PIRA by a PIRA ucbt on the Ballygomartin Road on
the morning of 6 June 1990.
I think that you were in Tennent St at the time, in charge of CID.
I seem to recall that we met, once at least, at the inquest.
On the day of their deaths or the next day, I was in Tennent St and I was
taken to a room and shown a wall display of the suspected bomb team,
including their photographs. I believe one may have been a woman and another
was a Finucane.
I have been campaigning for justice for them, actively, since 2002 and very
pro-actively , since 2014.
I know that a person called Braniff was arrested and questioned shortly
after the deaths but was released without charge.
My question is :
As CID commander, did you receive intel from the Branch or any other entity,
including a CHIS , as to the identity of the culprits? Were any suspects
protected by the Branch, FRU/Army or MI5?
My hypothesis is that PIRA were so infiltrated by the State that, even if
advance knowledge was not available [though I have reservations about that
scenario] identities would have been ascertained in the aftermath. So it is
a matter of great distress to me that no prosecution ensued.
Time for me is short and I would like to unlock this case sooner rather than
later.

Regards

Peter Sefton”

Within 24 hours he replied:

“Hello Peter,

Thank you for your email.

My desk is almost clear now and I will be in touch probably over the weekend.

Best…..

Alan.”

He never did reply. Big desk. 

My intermediary was apologetic but assured me that Simpson was ‘very unwell’.

I heard no more from Simpson but was mildly interested that he wrote to the Times on the deaths of Lords Hutton and Kerr, suggesting that he had met them in the course of his duties. Then he published an article in the Belfast Telegraph on 19th January this year. I don’t subscribe to this rag and the article, behind the paywall began:

Colleagues  fed me a false line on Finucane killing writes Alan Simpson 

“As a former RUC CID Detective Superintendent, I was greatly disappointed, but not surprised, at the Police Ombudsman’s recent finding that there had been “collusive behaviours” by elements of Special Branch when dealing with UDA killer gangs in the north-west of the province.”

Perhaps  he has a ghost writer or he has risen Lazarus- like from his bed or perhaps his solicitor , Kevin Winters, has inspired him to write about Finucane but not Jimmy Sefton.

Let me be clear, in the course of my career I met many brave, devoted and honest police officers.

I also met rogues, cowards and liars, the latter too often in the course of a trial.

My observations are directed at those whose  help I have sought, directly or indirectly, who have been motivated by one thing.

Money

I could name these men. But, aside from the most egregious,  Alan Simpson, I won’t.

What lesson can we learn?

The State has bought their compliance and silence.

The operation to kill Jimmy Sefton, happily retired but not on Patten, aged 65 and by implication, his wife, wasn’t sketched out on the back of a fag packet. It was scouted, planned , approved at the highest levels in PIRA. It is inconceivable that informers, agents, touts, whatever you want to call them, were not involved. It is inconceivable that Special Branch did not have information and that some or all of that was not shared with CID. 

Without exaggeration, it is likely that a dozen RUC officers have information that would be useful to their case. 

The same silence operated against my parents is practised when investigations into other killings are carried out by other bodies. 

Some of these culprits think nothing of instructing solicitors on their own behalf and for their own cases  who are , shall we say, critical of the State.

This blog is written more in sorrow than in anger. I saw enough  in my time of corruption at the highest levels of the RUC. Often it was at the expense of their junior colleagues and of justice; but killing is in another realm.

The fact remains that “one of their own” will receive no justice because money talks.

Many of the men of whom I speak profess Christianity.

Proverbs 11:4

A Protestant wind

Since my retirement from the Bar and my ensuing freedom to say what I choose, without the republicans and their fellow travellers in Chichester Street having a go at me, I have pursued the killers of my parents and supported others who have lost loved ones.

Readers of this blog will know that I allege that the State had an involvement in my parents’  murders.

One of our early successes related to  the killing of John Bingham. Bingham was reportedly a loyalist commander. The circumstances of his murder cried out for a proper investigation. One that the RUC did not provide.

When the question ‘why?’ is posed, the State falls silent.

As a result of dogged work by others, Operation Kenova has now sent a file on this murder to the PPS.

Our allegation was that the killing was carried out by republicans, some or all of whom were State agents. We further alleged that the State covered up the circumstances of the killing.

The matter is now the subject of a file within the PPS. State sponsored killings are particularly repulsive and  formerly have been regarded as the province of South American dictators.

But there are more worrying aspects. And we should not rest on our laurels.

Three lawyers, employees and agents of the Crown,  have been reported for prosecution for perjury. You can read more about this in the Guardian and two articles written by Henry McDonald.

This must cause concern about the probity of any case in which these lawyers had an input.

Jon Boutcher has often , to me and to others, used the phrase ‘boiling the sea’.

By this I understand him to mean that the extent of alleged State involvement in crime during the Troubles is massive.

Boutcher has presented the PPS, [within whose walls some alleged criminals may reside, or at one time may have resided] with a small number of files.

If he has information that the nexus between terrorists and the State goes much further, his duty is to present that evidence to the Chief Constable and his duty is to conduct further investigations.

BBC Spotlight has brought into the public domain some of the material that many of us have known about for many years.

The republican movement, SFIRA, the Finucane Centre, Relatives for Justice, Sean Murray , Trevor Birney and his republican mate, are all silent.

But there is a bigger picture. James Sefton was targeted and killed by republicans for reasons other than his service with the RUC. By 1990 PIRA was not only riddled with agents and informers but also well surveilled by hardware.

This took the form of cameras, listening devices, satellites, computers and other technology  still in use in updated formats all over the world. The State knows precisely who killed him and my mother. It hold this information secretly, guarded by the spooks and probably corrupt lawyers and police officers.

Now the door is ajar. Let’s kick it down. The roll call of senior  republican figures is , at least:

Adams

McGuinness

Bobby Storey

Spike Murray [father of Sean Murray, the ‘film maker’]

Brian Gillen

Sean Maguire

They were employed  by the State and were participating informants in murders and other serious crimes relating to police officers, politicians and other innocent civilians.

The phrase “Protestant Wind”  refers to the storm that scattered the Spanish Armada and  the wind that propelled William of Orange to Torbay.

It is now starting to cleanse Northern Ireland of the canker of State murder of its own citizens

My Brief affair with Simon Byrne

                         

Dear Reader! If you have ‘issues’ or are of a nervous disposition, go no further!

Only a few weeks ago, Fat George, the NIO placeman/policeman, vacated his post and in came  Simon Byrne.

Thrusting, opinionated and unemployed, he was an ideal choice for Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Nonetheless, I would hear no ill spoken of him . This ex chief constable of Cheshire Constabulary is known for his firm management style, which is totally different from bullying.

I was enraptured by the idea of a dynamic Chief Constable, after George’s size 40 waist.

Simon’s was 38 at the most…

Perhaps I was carried away. I don’t know, to be truthful…..

Anyway, he arrived and he was on Twitter! Oh Joy!

I followed him!

And he followed me back!  No Chief Constable had ever done that before…

It was because he paid me attention, I think…

So, emboldened, I sent him a direct message on 14thJuly and I said this:

“The murders of James and Ellen Sefton remain unsolved. Your officers assert that there is no intelligence touching upon their killings. This is untrue. You have an opportunity to change the picture by being candid about the true extent of the involvement of State actors. Will you help?”

My delicate young heart beat more swiftly , while waiting for a response.

None there came.

Disgracefully, I prostrated my heart and reached out again to this English Alpha Male.

I said, on 20thJuly, rather lamely: “disappointed that you have not replied”.

Still he did not reply, though he had read both messages.

Am I a fool to myself?

I refuse to believe these seventy four allegations against him were ever true. I’m sure that there is an explanation and that   he is out there for me and that some day my Chief Constable will come and tell me the truth.

 

Simon?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marking twenty eight years

In any other jurisdiction, there are cold case reviews on a regular basis. Even the PSNI is embracing this idea , with the recent activity over the death of Inga Maria Hauser, found dead in April 1988.

As someone said , recently, sad as it is, why her?

The answer of course is that the huge lump of Troubles deaths involve the state and the vast store of documents, implicating it. There are stores  in Sprucefield, Seapark and Thiepval, where the army sits on a million copies. The state, in the form of Hamilton, Harris and the faceless people of MI5 will keep the lid on, as best they can.

All the citizen can do is keep probing.

What is additionally disappointing is that the new leaders appear to have gone to Spooks Academy.

Consider the letter written by the deputy director of the PPS in the case of Seamus Ludlow. His understanding of hearsay would shame a first year law student. How did he become deputy director and regurgitate all the lines of the state? Can you guess? Let’s hope he gets well spanked in the High Court.

As part of the week to mark twenty eight years since the murders of my parents, I am posting a secret document, giving an insight into how the state worked.

There will be other posts in this anniversary week.

 

An open letter to George Hamilton

Dear George,

I’ve just got around to reading the full text of your speech of 15thMay.

Straightaway, you mention transparency. That doesn’t sit well with me. Perhaps it’s because since I started communicating with the PSNI in 2002, your force has been opaque.

But let’s leave that for now.

I’m glad that you agree with me that something untoward was happening in policing during the Troubles and that it was not restricted to a few bad apples.

But then I’m puzzled. You say “In the absence of any regulatory framework for managing ‘agents’ police officers were left to set their own standards.”

Then  you say that “there was no law”  a few lines  later you say “ there are [sic] a range of charges that can be brought”

You see, George, the persons who murdered my parents, whose names you can find on my blog, most of them had a handler and some of those handlers were police officers and you know who they were. Those officers knew, if not before , then certainly afterwards, the identities of the perpetrators. They , the police officers, committed most of  the range of offences you enumerated above.

Records: lets dwell on that for a second. Prof Lundy and other academics have commented on those records which you say the Police Ombudsman has “unfettered access to”. No he doesn’t. Are you telling the public that the Ombudsman’s representatives roam the stores at Sprucefield and Seapark at will? What about your gatekeepers? The old SB guys. What about your chief spook, Drew Harris? Don’t they keep tabs on the files? What about the ‘difficult’ files which the Security Service has removed from you and now stores at Loughside?

Although you admit that you know of no legal definition of collusion, you say that it “signals malevolent intent”. What’s your authority for that proposition , George?  I know why you say it. The secret is in the next bit. You want us to think about all the brave officers. It’s not about bravery , George.

You can give me no lessons on what a brave officer looks like.

It’s not long before you return to your old unapologetic self. You say that the police were operating in a vacuum. The police had no “framework, guidance or legislation”

I’ve news for you , George. The Human Rights Act of 1998 simply put on the  British statute book  the provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms which had long been recognised by British courts and a good read of it by senior officers might have given a hint about how to police. Anyway, allowing an agent to kill doesn’t take  much of a look at a moral compass to know that it is wrong .

Frankly, I got weary of the same old words at this point, George. Why? Because for almost twenty eight years your force and its predecessor and every chief constable has lied to me.

So, on close inspection, I’m as unimpressed by this speech as I have been by all the rest.

Take your own advice, get out of your own comfort zone, be selfless and open the files on James and Ellen Sefton.

Yours sincerely

Peter Sefton

James Carrick Annette Sefton, an appreciation

James was born on 25 February 1925, the second  son of William and Cissie Sefton.

He left school at fourteen and was , like many of his contemporaries, apprenticed in Harland and Wolff.

Despite being good at maths he was in love with literature and history. He read three books each week, borrowed from Shankill Road public library.

When I was eight, he took me there and signed me up. We went to the childrens’ section. “Here is a book you might like”. It was a Tale of Two Cities. I remember taking it home and reading the opening lines. How inspirational is that for any boy?

James wanted to be a teacher but his circumstances did not permit.

He was always smart  and well turned out and eventually found his way into the RUC.

Not your usual officer, he completed a crossword every day and counted Paddy Devlin amongst his friends. That friendship may not be surprising in that James was a socialist and Paddy was born a few streets away.

Never an unthinking loyalist, he used to take amusement in observing that the Orangemen were having their ‘ annual’ church visit,

He married my mother , Ellen, a beauty and rich , and a year older than him in 1949. That must have made his friends jealous.

They were in love right to the end.

They represented all that was good about Northern Ireland in those years that many observers  have rubbished. They had honeymooned in Dublin [ where I was made]  and visited the Republic regularly.

James had a dry sense of humour that could convey a concept. I remember reading out my letter of offer of a place to read law at QUB, at the breakfast table.

His reply was “anyone who gets a university place and fails should be shot” That got my attention and is probably explained by  his wish to have been a teacher.

When I explained that I was prosecuting my first historic sex abuse trial, he remarked that “those people steal childrens’ childhoods”. It was the first time I really understood abuse.

James served uncomplainingly in B division for many years.

The rector of St Matthew’s, with whom he loved to debate , said of him and my mother; “they were ordinary decent caring people…[James] was not the sort of man to talk about politics, he was a tolerant sort of individual who didn’t hold any unyielding views”

I still hold the memory of him going out on night duty , after the Anglo Irish Agreement, when he was more likely to be attacked by loyalists.

I never told him how much I loved him.

I know that I am not alone in my loss and that many people suffered more than I did.

But he was my Dad, the bravest man I ever knew and I’m only half the man he was.