psni

PSNI, the strange world of the Chief Constable

Usually, when one writes to the head of an organisation, complaining about those immediately under him, the head takes responsibility and responds. Not so the Chief Constable. On 17 December I wrote to him , setting out what ACC Harris and Kerr had said about Ed Moloney and his response. I asked the Chief Constable for an explanation and I told him how distressed I was at the prospect of having been misled [at best].

Well, he is not going to reply to me. Instead , guess what? The Chief Constable “believes that this matter is best addressed by ACC Kerr”. It will be interesting to see what he has to say for himself and for his superior, DCC Harris.

PS Still no word of explanation about the forensic examination of UCBs.

But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep

Next year I will deal, point by point , with the state’s cover up of McGuinness’ role and its refusal to prosecute him, despite evidence being available. I will be pressing the state for a prosecution for the murders of my parents.

I will also be pursuing the various pieces of evidence being withheld at present.

I will also set out how the PSNI in particular failed to respond properly to my requests. I have asked the Chief Constable for an explanation of the statements of Harris and Kerr regarding Ed Moloney.

Meantime , the issue of outstanding forensic evidence remains unresolved. I am promised a reply by early January, we will see.

I may well refer all these matters to the Police Ombudsman.

I will be availing of the offer of a meeting with the Attorney General.

My campaign goes on.

“In the midst of winter I finally learned that there was within me an invincible summer” Albert Camus.

Twenty five birthdays

Tomorrow [d.v.] I will celebrate the twenty fifth birthday without my parents. I try not to feel sorry for myself because [as they taught me to think] there are people worse off than I.

Many children lost a parent at a far earlier age. I think in particular of Louis Johnston, son of R/Con David Johnston. David was murdered by a hero of the republican movement who shot him from behind on 16th June 1997, thus advancing the cause of Mother Ireland.  Louis, who was at primary school, was photographed at the funeral and those who have seen that photo could only be moved by it. I had the privilege of hearing Louis speak at St Anne’s Cathedral on 20th March 2011. He is a credit to his father.

To those who are seeking justice and truth I  urge you not to give up. Don’t accept the first , second or third response from the state. They will lie to you. You must box them into a corner by pressure and the force of your argument.

Look at the excellent work done by Ciaran MacArt in his research for his book on the bombing of McGurk’s bar. He has exposed the state’s deceit. It is important for unionists to realise that the state is not their friend either.

There is a wealth of intelligence which the state won’t release to you, yet.

PIRA was honeycombed by informants. The structure remains intact, though. This is a favourite British tactic when dealing with terrorists. They prefer to deal with the established top team. Therefore they do not disrupt it by killings , arrests or prosecutions. Their experience has shown that if you do, the new lot are an unknown kettle of fish and may be more extreme. Hence good old granda McGuinness.But the state is nothing if not pragmatic. If it suits its purpose it will ditch this policy. That is what I am aiming for. As if by magic Marty will become the devil incarnate. That is why he was so  unnerved by Adams’ arrest and spoke of dark forces.

I am  coming for you McGuinness!

PSNI and forensics

My parents were killed by an under car booby trap bomb [UCBT], the sort of device that cowards use, [directed by Martin McGuinness], in the “war” where they couldn’t lawfully be shot, because it wasn’t a war, if you see what I mean.

I was told by ACC Harris that fifteen UCBTs were recovered intact. He informed me that as a result of a SCRT review, “a senior scientist has concluded that although the bombs were similar in their make up , they had subtle differences and could not be attributed to a single bomb maker.”

I asked  Forensic Science Northern Ireland for a copy of the report. They replied, on 12 November:

“FSNI examined a number of devices during the period 1990 to 1992 however these were not correlated into any single report that we hold or have access to in our files”.

I wrote a FOI request to the police on the same day, asking

1. When the conclusion was reached by the “senior scientist”.

2. The name of the “senior scientist”.

3. The organisation for whom the “senior scientist” worked.

I also asked for a copy of the report which provided the basis for ACC Harris’s assertion

The PSNI say that “a response should be sent to you within twenty working days. Twenty eight working days later there is no reply, and no response to a follow up email to them. I am hoping,  that this assertion by ACC Harris has more foundation than his statement about Ed Moloney.

PSNI “liars” part II

Senior Assistant Director Stephen Herron of the Public Prosecution Service also spoke to the police about this matter. Here is what he recounted to me in his letter of 28th November.

“it has been confirmed by ACC Kerr that with the exception of open source reference material  [Mr Maloney’s book…] which directly implicates Mr McGuinness, there is no evidential basis or intelligence available to link him with the murder of your parents.

As has been noted in previous correspondence you received from PSNI, the contributions to the book are anonymous and cannot be verified or corroborated for factual accuracy. Mr Moloney has previously been spoken to by police and was unwilling to disclose the identity of his sources”

Hopefully the PPS will also seek an explanation.

Stand by for the mystery of the missing forensic report…..

PSNI “liars”

Readers may know that on more than one occasion I asked the police to investigate McGuinness’s part in the murder of my parents and the allegations made by Ed Moloney, in his book, ” A secret History of the IRA”, page 347.

Here is what ACC Harris [now DCC Harris] wrote to me on 11 August 2104:

“The author Ed Moloney has previously been spoken to and is unwilling to disclose the identity of his sources”.

Here is what Ed Moloney told me today, when I put Harris’s version to him:

“No-one from the RUC or PSNI has ever approached me about anything I wrote in ‘secret history’ and certainly not about your parents’ terrible deaths…if they are telling you that , they are lying to you and you have my permission to say so in whatever arena you choose”

I will be writing to the Chief Constable, seeking an explanation and possibly taking the matter further, depending on his answer. So much for ACC Kerr telling the PPS that my parents’  case had been thoroughly investigated.

Other inconsistencies are emerging in  information supplied by senior officers and this will be the subject of future blogs.

Where would we be without the opportunity to put these matters in the public domain , by blogging?

I say this because the Bar Council avidly reads my blogs!

Martin McGuinness-invisible man

Readers will know that I have been asking questions of the PSNI and PPS in respect of the murders of my parents. That process is now complete.

Police repeated the following to the PPS, in respect of Ed Maloney’s assertion that McGuinness approved the murder of my parents. They told the PPS Senior Assistant Director:

“there is no evidential basis or intelligence available to link him with the murder of [my] parents”

How can any sane democracy countenance this from the police?

In the coming days I will set out , point by point , person by person, the allegations against him. If the police are correct , then :

[a] they have been incompetent for 25 years, or

[b] a range of people , from senior politicians in the Republic to veteran journalists in Northern Ireland have indulged in a fantasy.

Just to add, I will not be deflected from this campaign despite any Sinn Fein/IRA inspired journalism.

 

Loss

Losing a loved one  “naturally” is always sad.

To lose a close family member “unnaturally” say in a car crash, is unexpected, inexplicable  and difficult to come to terms with.

To lose a loved one , murdered, is horrific. The conviction of the perpetrator may bring some “closure” to use that overworked and somewhat empty word.

To lose both parents, murdered by a PIRA active service unit, in an operation approved by the man who is now deputy first minister is outrageous, unreasonable and a situation which no citizen of a functioning democracy should have to endure.

Worse, the state has been complicit in the protection of Martin McGuinness in pursuit of the chimera known as the “peace process”.

Readers might wonder what that process is, given the PSNI warning about attacks and recent newspaper articles alleging that Sinn Fein is controlled by the army council.

What price peace?

A price I will not pay.

 

Spot the spook

X is shot dead by Y[unknown to anyone?]  as X sits in a pub with A and B.

X’s member of parliament, C, says that it is disgraceful.

D, a journalist, reports  on the shooting of X.

E, X’s lawyer, says that he has written to C, X’s MP.

C  calls upon F  , the relevant minister, to condemn and investigate the killing.

G is appointed to investigate the killing and report to F

candidates are asked to spot the spook, or alternatively the non-spook….