psni

V and A Consultancy

My consultancy has been launched.

Visit http://www.vandaconsultancy.com

It is aimed at advocacy training for lawyers, McKenzie friends and laymen. It also can provide training for  expert witnesses. It can also give those with legacy issues a voice and the means to pursue truth and justice for their loved ones.

It is based on my experience as a barrister and as a son of two murdered parents.

I’ve now acquired expertise in researching the past and dealing with the inscrutable senior command of the PSNI.

It’s time that everyone in the United Kingdom scrutinised more closely the activities of the State in Northern Ireland since 1969.

I can be contacted via the website

 

Moussa Koussa  and Andrew MacKinlay

You may remember, Dear Reader, the somewhat sensational evidence given by Andrew MacKinlay, retired MP, to the NI Affairs Committee, on 14th October 2015.

Here is  an example of what he said, in giving evidence about MK:

Kate Hoey: Do you think it was anything to do with a fear that , if he talked too much–all the contacts with people in Sinn Fein, IRA , for example –it might bring down the peace process?

Andrew MacKinlay: He would have known about the Semtex and the supplying of arms to the IRA over many years—and probably authorised it.

He went on to state that MK was a key member of Gadafy’s regime and he just could not understand why he was never questioned by British police.

I asked the PSNI about, inter alia, the alleged supply of Semtex and the allegation that , in effect MK conspired with Sinn Fein/IRA to murder.

The PSNI made contact with MacKinlay and here is what they told me:

“Mr MacKinlay has confirmed that he has no further information to add to his evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on 14 October 2015. Mr MacKinlay has also confirmed that he is not in possession of any evidence to suggest that Moussa Moussa committed a criminal offence”

Contrast this with the statement by our hero “this was a bad fellow, but I do not believe that the normal law enforcement agencies were given access to him”

One wonders how much other guff has been presented to the NIAC as “evidence”.

 

 

 

 

Deputy First Minister/Murderer

Two interesting points emerged from last night’s Spotlight on BBC NI.

First , that Sinn Fein/PIRA’s command structure requires that murders must be approved by the man at the top, Gerry Adams.

This would of course be known to the State and anyone who has the least knowledge of SF/PIRA operations.

I made a similar allegation in June 2015 and stated that Martin McGuinness as head of Northern Command would have been aware of the plan to kill my father. He approved it. This was not a new allegation. Ed Moloney first made it in 2002 , in his book, “A Secret History of the IRA”.

McGuinness is guilty of murder , as an accessory.

The PSNI have refused to pursue McGuinness or any of the other persons whom I named. See my blog “The murderers of my parents”.

Several of the people named are also State agents.

Secondly, the allegation that there might have been 800 to 1,000 State agents within PIRA will equally come as no surprise to many people. Except that the PSNI, the HET and the Police Ombudsman cannot find one agent who has information on the murderers of my parents. This is what I have been consistently told by these organs of the state, since 1990.

They are simply telling me lies.

Like Hillsborough, the truth cannot remain hidden for ever. Adams has been in the firing line for several months now, because he is no longer of value to either the British or Irish States. McGuinness’s day will also come.

Sinn Fein IRA , in their press releases and statements in the last twenty four hours blame the Brits for a further propaganda campaign.

The awful truth is that the British State is protecting men and women who were involved in the murder of my parents and , so far , are protecting McGuinness.

As for Denis Donaldson and his murder, remember Dear Reader, nothing is ever as it seems in Northern Ireland.

Palmgate

As told to our reporter by “CSI5”.

“Well it was like any other morning in the fingerprint branch. I had done a couple of TADAs and three burglaries. So, like, it’s break time and I’m in the canteen, having a bacon bap and a mug of tea. I was reading the Sun, just for the sport, you know. Anyway , somebody threw the News Letter on the table and I saw the word ‘Kingsmill’. My dad used to be a bread server with Barney Hughes and I just thought it was an ad for bread. I like bread, so I looked more closely. It turns out it’s all about a massacre that took place in the seventies, before I was born. That’s probably why I knew nothing about it and had never, ever heard of it, even in the last six months. So I got to thinking, what if I could help? How could I help? Maybe there’s  a palm print un-identified since 1976, happens all the time.

So I said ‘Boss, any chance I could do the Kingsmill?’ He laughed. ‘You bored?’ he said.  ‘Go on then’ So fortunately, even though it hasn’t been investigated in yonks, I was able to find the file very quickly and there was indeed an unidentified palm print. My hands were trembling as I put it through the system. Within minutes I had matched it to a set of famous republican dabs.

I said ‘Boss, look at this’. Two of my mates confirmed it.

Now I’m the talk of the department, the Boy Wonder of prints!

I’ve had requests for help from the Lucan investigation and from the Kennedys. I thought that bakery had gone out of business.

Funny old [forensic] world.”

Ice cream, Gillen and the state

Many of you , Dear Readers, who have read about the book; “They killed the Ice Cream Man” will not be surprised by the allegations made by the Larmours.

Since I started my research in earnest two years ago, veteran observers had no difficulty in telling me about these practices. It was well known that senior members of PIRA were state agents and permitted to continue directing terrorism. They would have been little use to the spooks otherwise. On occasions they were permitted to commit murder, either directly or as someone who was involved in planning or directing. Look at the activities of  Loyalist Mark Haddock for a mirror image of the practice.

One name that came up frequently was Brian Gillen. My informants were in no doubt that he had been turned by the state and that he continued to operate in the role of Belfast Brigade commander. I named him as a participant in my blog ” The murderers of my parents”.

I have no difficulty in stating that he is the person referred to by the Armours and by by Ed Moloney. I have also made this allegation , some time ago to the Police Ombudsman.

Just as disturbing as these revelations are, what is more disturbing is that the State and its employees and ex employees refuse to admit that these tactics were used. I have had assurances from the PSNI, the Police Ombudsman and the Secretary of State that there was no advance intelligence of the murders of my parents . The same bodies have denied that an informer participated in the planning or execution of the murders.

A glance at my blog will show the one or more State agency is telling lies.

The Director of Public Prosecutions declined to direct the police to investigate Martin McGuinness’ role in the murders of my parents, despite Ed Moloney naming him in his book; “A secret History of the IRA”. He was quick to direct investigations into the Army on similar information. The Attorney General, despite his close interest in major issues such as abortion and gay discrimination, has declined to direct a fresh inquest, which would be required to examine special branch files.

The questions for readers are these. Are all those, like me, who have published names and activities, deluded? Or are we just scraping the surface of the State’s involvement in the dirty war? Is the State terrified of what might become known? Are Adams McGuinness and others equally frightened?

I’m given hope by the Hillsborough families. One day the truth will be known.

Tony Blair and history

Blair once felt the hand of history on his shoulder. [Psychopaths often have such hallucinations]

That same hand has continued to re-write Tony’s role in Northern Ireland.

Last week he issued a statement from his opulent offices, paid for by nefarious world wide deals. It dealt with his role in the failure of victims of Libyan supplied Semtex to obtain compensation. Despite kissing Gadafy in a tent in the desert, he has denied that he had any role or influence over the settlement which Bush concluded with Gadafy. He is subject to the scrutiny of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, who have indicated that, if he does not be transparent with them , they may go to Washington D.C. to investigate further.

One ‘fact’ that Blair repeats , ad nauseum, is that we were not entitled , by law, to receive compensation.

Here is a recent example of this. “The decision by the US not to include British victims was , I believe , because they were precluded legally from such an action.”

We are used to weasel words from Blair, after all , he was the architect of the Good Friday Agreement, the biggest con of the twentieth century. He structured  the ‘on the runs’ arrangement and he established immunity from prosecution for Adams, McGuinness and Slab Murphy.

The fact is that the 160 claimants were able to sue Gadafy and others from the regime, under US Federal law. Lawyers were appointed in the UK and the USA. The non-US claimants were  legally “aliens” under the legislation. Proceedings were taken and responded to by the defendants in the US Federal Court. Each side was shaping up for a trial. What happened  next was that Bush intervened and passed an Act preventing Britons from obtaining compensation but facilitating payment to US citizens. The decision by Bush , to exclude Britons, came after the court hearings , the Act followed later. In that sense , we were legally  precluded from compensation.

Where was Blair in all of this? Out of office but in the desert. He has never been able to properly explain what  deal he was doing with Gadafy, which benefitted Americans but not Britons.

The answer could be , of course, that the UK had much to hide. After all, the Libyan deal for Semtex and arms was concluded between Gadafy , Moussa Koussa and other Libyans on the one hand and Slab Murphy, Gerry Adams , Martin McGuiness and other members of the Army council, on the other. Given Blair’s close connection with Sinn Fein/IRA and given the number of IRA  informants being run by the State, any probing into how it was that Libya admitted liability for its actions towards Americans but not Britons had the potential to be embarrassing.  One could hear Gadafy saying to Blair, in the tent after the snog , “I have given you the list of arms and explosives we gave Sinn Fein/IRA. I have told you how much money we gave them. I have told you who we did the deal with. Martin did the Enniskillen bomb as a thank you and revenge for the Yanks killing my daughter. What more do you need to know? Shall I tell who was an agent and what was the role of MI6?” This position is borne out by British Ministers telling the House of Commons that Gadafy had come in from the cold and had helped Britain in respect of the IRA . As far as the Foreign Office was concerned, the matter was closed.

Victims and survivors were only legally barred from payouts after Blair did the deal for Bush.

What was in it for Blair? Money, enough to impress Wendi Deng.  Contacts with states around the world. Adviser to many dubious regimes.

I hear someone saying “how can he sleep at night?”

Psychopaths sleep well.

 

Villiers and ‘Legacy”

Much ink has been spilled about how State intelligence about terrorist killings is to be made available to the judicial process and to victims and survivors.

Predictably, Republicans accuse the State of deception and bad faith and ,inexplicably, Unionists side with the Government.

This is an issue which affects all victims and survivors.

The extent of British and RUC collusion is unknown but verified  as a practice by de Silva.

An indication of how little the NIO or the Secretary of State  thinks of us can be gleaned from the following.

In February 2015 I wrote to the Attorney General , enclosing a seven page letter, arguing that he should direct a new inquest into the murders of my parents. I met with him on 4th March 2015 and his view was that he had no power to direct a new inquest unless the State had some prior knowledge of the operation, through an agent informant. He wrote to the Secretary of State in March 2015. An answer was only forthcoming after I threatened to have the matter raised in the House of Commons.

She said that “neither the Ministry of Defence, the Security Service, the Police Service of Northern Ireland nor the Northern Ireland Office hold any material relevant to the Attorney’s request”.

Note the use of the word “hold”. It is a word which tries to  convey much but which means little. An organisation is likely to archive material after a number of years. They send it to a store , managed by others. Then they no longer ‘hold’ it. Worse an organisation destroys documents, then they no longer ‘hold’ them. Given forty years of state denials and cover ups, I’m sure , Dear Reader , that you will forgive my cynicism.

Meantime the State has achieved its objective. As a result of this reply, no new inquest will be held into the murders of my parents.

Barra and George

Barra McGrory has been in post since 2011. Time enough , you might think, to get the basics right.

Let’s look at how his team is doing on disclosure.

Disclosure,  Dear Reader is an obligation placed on the prosecution to give to the defence any material [statements, forensics etc.] that might be considered capable of undermining the case for the prosecution or of assisting the case for the accused. In other words the prosecution cannot hide evidence which does not suit their case.

This month,  Criminal Justice Inspection NI published a report into the quality of police files.

It found that “disclosure was dealt with satisfactorily by police in only 23% of Crown Court cases. This is unacceptable”.

In his report Brendan McGuigan , Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice, listed the consequences of disclosure obligations not being followed. See para 3.41. Astonishingly, he failed to mention the most important risk of all, that an innocent man might be convicted.

Imagine that you are wrongly accused of shoplifting. Your defence is that you were not in the shop at the time, you were walking in the local  park. The police fail to disclose that they took a statement from a man who  recognised you , walking a dog.

You are convicted.

The issue of disclosure has featured in many  appeals and  in references by the Criminal Cases Review Commission. It is not new and it is not rocket science and the subsequent acquittals or quashings of conviction may only be the tip of the iceberg.

You might be tempted to say ‘ now that it has been highlighted I’m sure George and Barra will fix it’.

Well, in April 2013 the Inspector found that the PPS records of continuing disclosure to defence teams were “not good” and some compliances were “very poor”.

So what did Barra say about that?

He said ” I am confident that the PPS can rise to the challenges highlighted”.

Well Barra, as they say in Belfast has not “riz” at all. This despite publicly criticising PSNI files in March 2012 , only four months into the job, in an effort to divert attention away from his underachieving and dysfunctional Service.

The lesson?  Try not to be prosecuted in the Crown Court in Northern Ireland. It is a dangerous place for defendants.

All of this has received little coverage in a media obsessed with sensation.

More disturbingly, unless I have missed it ,the Criminal Bar Association [with justice  as its watchword],  has not commented on this limp  performance by Barra and George.

Barra would serve justice better by putting his head down and delivering a first class prosecution system, instead of sound bites.

Villiers’ rubber stamp

So the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland wants an assessment of paramilitary activity.

Where to turn?

To MI5/PSNI of course, silly girl.

But no. Let’s have three Wise Persons. They will compile a report and all will be happy.

So.

MI5/PSNI compile a report.

It is given to the Wise Persons, only one of whom has any experience of terrorism, crime or naughty people.

They read it, meet the authors, probe the authors, ask them for a bit more info and declare themselves happy.

Et voila! The report of the experts, the PSNI/MI5 is deemed good and accepted lock , stock and [missing]barrels.

Not a mention of Semtex.

Am I mad?

Answers on a postcard…