jon boutcher

I’m not far wrong

Readers of my blog will know that PIRA murdered my parents, James and Ellen Sefton, on 6th June 1990.

I started enquiring into the circumstances in 2002, when it began to dawn on me that all was not as it seemed.

I contacted the PSNI in 2002 who, in terms , told me that the file had been packed away years ago and there was nothing to see. No suspects , no leads, just one of those things….which happened to one of their own…..

I contacted the HET. Same story. ‘We have had access to all intelligence’ there is nothing to see.

I contacted PONI. ‘We have reviewed all intelligence- it has all been made available- nothing to see here’

Then in 2017 I contacted Operation Kenova. I made the pitch that Sean Maguire, now SFIRA director of PR , was involved in the murders and was closely connected to Scappaticci.

This month, after a series of meetings, the Kenova team produced intelligence that had been in possession of the RUC since June 1990.

It raises all sorts of questions as to how the RUC handled intelligence and as to why this intel was suppressed for thirty three years and not acted upon.

It raises issues about cross border cooperation with AGS.

I’m reserving the intel for the moment whilst [hopefully] I receive further and better particulars from Op Kenova, which has been as good as its word about providing victims’ families with new information.

I’ll then be putting the intel into the public domain and inviting you to consider it.

Some time ago I wrote a piece called ‘Money talks’ -you can find it on my blog. Some ex-RUC officers were outraged by it. When you finally see what I know you will have an understanding of how much was suppressed and left undone by James’ colleagues , who went on to have luxurious retirements.

The message to all of you who have lost loved ones in the ‘Troubles’ is simple.

Never give up. The State will always lie to you. The State has no honour. The State has no loyalty. The Judiciary is in the pocket of the State.

Some years ago Geoffrey Miller, a County Court judge, said that I was “tilting at windmills”.

Some windmills- some tilting ,Geoffrey……

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