semtex

Under car booby trap bombs

Anyone who has been affected by one of these might be interested in this “nugget” from the Historical Enquiries Team.

“The intelligence picture showed there was a high degree of expertise within the Provisional IRA vested in an extremely small number of people. When the police identified those individuals they were subject of [sic] intensive operations to target and disrupt their activities.”

You might think, dear reader, that having been “identified” they might have been brought to court for their activities.

Not so. Why? Well perhaps they were informants. I have not yet been shown the “intelligence picture” but I’m working on it.

PSNI and failed investigations

The items recovered from the scene of the murders of my parents have been disposed of.

Is that a shocking statement? You might think so.

The police cannot tell me when they were disposed of, why and on whose orders.

The items  are therefore not available for testing by techniques which were used as far back as 1998.

Of course, if the bombers were State agents, it would be inconvenient to have their DNA found on the bomb.

I have written ,again, to the Chief Constable, requesting an explanation.

If the Protestant/Unionist/loyalist faction have not got the message yet [ yes and you too Willy!] let me spell it out.

The State is protecting a swathe of terrorists , republican and loyalist, for the greater good of the “peace process”. The “Crown” is not our friend, any more than it is the enemy of republicans.

Good people like my parents were sacrificed because the State deemed it appropriate.

There are hundreds of similar families suffering. For example the “human bomb” families of Derry, operations ordered by McGuinness.

I will share the Chief Constable’s response.

Next time- the UCBT teams, what the police knew and what they did about them.

PSNI-careless talk? Or worse?

On 11th August ACC Harris, as he then was said this , [in response to my assertion that Ed Moloney ,in his book”A Secret History of the IRA, pointed to McGuinness as the man who had ordered the murders of my parents] :

“The information contained within the book …is anonymous. The author Ed Moloney has previously been spoken to and is unwilling to disclose the identity of his sources.”

The police told the Senior Assistant Director of the PPS the same thing. He repeated to me: “Mr Moloney has previously been spoken to by police and was unwilling to disclose the identity of his sources.” The police were not briefing Mr Herron about interactions with Ed Moloney, they were dealing with a specific allegation.

Mr Moloney told me that no police officer had ever spoken to him about anything in his book, originally published in 2002.

I challenged the Chief Constable. He nodded the ball to ACC Kerr. He nodded the ball to D Supt Murphy, who seems to be in the Legacy Investigations Branch, probably the fourth or fifth outfit I have had to deal with. He replied :”ACC Harris previously wrote to you about interactions with Mr Moloney. In that letter , Mr Harris states that previous requests to Mr Moloney have not resulted in a positive response. I should emphasise that this was intended to reference other cases within the remit of the Historical Enquiries Team , rather than the murders of your parents specifically. I apologise if any confusion was caused.”

Of course ACC Harris did not write to me “about interactions with Mr Moloney”. He wrote to me about a specific allegation contained in a book written over twelve years ago.

Readers can make up their own mind about the honesty  of the police responses.

It now appears that they are going to attempt to make contact with Mr Moloney.

The fact is that the police were ordered not to investigate the chain of command in any bombing or shooting. The ASU did not just have an idea one day that they would go and kill someone. It was scouted , planned and approved. In my parents’ case the project would have gone up the line through Spike Murray, Brian Gillen, Bobby Storey and then to McGuinness. At least two of these people were State informers, Gillen and McGuinness.

I therefore allege that the State was aware of the identity of the people who conspired to kill my parents , as well as the killers themselves. Effectively, the State was engaged in murder. This matter will now be taken up again with the PPS, though not with the Director, who was at all material times, McGuinness’s lawyer. I am not aware of whether or not he represented Spike Murray , Brian Gillen or Bobby Storey.

Meanwhile I still await the PSNI explanation about forensic examination of UCBTs, outstanding since 13th November.

PSNI-how they treat historical murders

Readers may recall that I began correspondence with police in October 2002. Having been passed from one ACC to another, I finally met two senior detectives at Antrim Road police station on 4th March 2003. The following points emerged:

1. The investigation file had been stored.

2. No officer was even nominally in charge of the investigation.

3. They could not tell me when the investigation had been abandoned, who the last investigating officer had been and on whose authority the investigation had been abandoned.

I wrote [again] to the Chief Constable and finally , on 28th May 2003, twenty months after my first letter, Hugh Orde replied. He told me that they were in the process of setting up a serious crime review team. He promised that his staff would write to me again when matters were clarified.

It will come as no surprise for readers to learn that I received no reply until I wrote again in December. I was told that the Chief Constable had asked ACC KInkaid to write to me.

He did not contact me until March 2004, ten months after Orde had promised a response.

Bear in mind, dear reader, that the file had been stored for an unknown period of time and there was no officer responsible for any current investigation.

Here is what ACC Kinkaid said:

“Although not currently active, the investigation has remained open and subject to further attention should new information or developments arise”.

No doubt in the same category are the Jack the Ripper murders.

So, the moral of this story is that those of you who have lost loved ones in sectarian murders can be assured that the PSNI, even though your file is in a box in a warehouse, are ever watchful for new information or developments, falling from the skies into their laps.

Next time. What the Serious Crime Review Team told me.

Blair, Libya and Sinn Fein/IRA

It is well known that the same bunch of terrorists who looked for the on the run letters also opposed and continue to oppose the payment of compensation to the victims of semtex supplied by their friend [and Blair’s] Gadafy.
They are supported in this endeavour by the Northern Ireland Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.Such was the NIO and FCO indifference to the claims that pressure had to be applied to wrest control from them and place negotiations in the hands of Sir Kim Darroch, who now reports to the Prime Minister.
The subject is so sensitive up at Stormont that McKibbin, the Permanent Secretary at OFMDFM refused to tell me or Jim Allister what was discussed between the Libyan Prime Minister and the First and Deputy First Ministers at the City Airport, after the G8 summit.
Readers will know that in June 2008, Blair, no longer in office but setting out to be a multi millionaire, met Gadafy and gave him a big hug.It is clear from FCO documents of the time that Blair was brokering a deal which resulted in Bush receiving 1.5 billion dollars from Libya for the American claimants and freezing out the British subjects.
Why did Blair do this?
To ingratiate himself to Bush? “Yo Blair”. Already done some time earlier.
To get a financial advantage from Gadafy? Maybe.
When looked at with the right end of the telescope, the reason is clear.
The payment to UK citizens would involve millions of pounds in compensation going largely to Protestants.SF/IRA still maintain their hatred of Protestants, so for the sake of the peace process, just like with the on the runs, Blair sided with the terrorists.

PSNI, their failure to care

Readers will know that my parents were murdered in June 1990. In October 2002 I wrote to the Chief Constable, pointing out that in the intervening years, I had had no contact of any sort with any officer in charge of the investigation. It took a further letter in January 2003 to prise a response out of the Chief Constable. He first nodded the ball, through Supt Harris [yes it is he!] to ACC McQuillan, known [affectionately?] by his colleagues as “the salad dodger”. He failed to reply. Supt Harris then passed the buck to ACC Hunter. She apologised for the delay in reply and for the failure to liaise over the past twelve years. She was unable to explain the failures because ‘senior members of the team…have ended their police careers.”

Two matters arise.

1. I am sure my experience is replicated many times over with other families.

2. What prevents the PSNI from contacting retired officers to discuss such matters? They are, after all, in receipt of substantial pensions from the public purse.

Next time: when is an investigation not an investigation?

PSNI no longer “personal ,professional, protective policing”?

Readers will know that I intend to walk through my experience with the state in respect of the murders of my parents.

Today, my exposition is the failure of the PSNI to properly relate to those who correspond with them.

It seems that “personal, professional, protective policing” has been replaced , on the 2015 letter heading , with “keeping people safe”. I wonder why?

I’m told that only two police stations Musgrave and Strand Road are open though the night, I wonder if this is correct?

Anyway, chronologically, here are the officers I have dealt with in my quest for justice for my parents. It is important to know that I always wrote to the Chief Constable, most of who couldn’t be arsed replying personally , except for Hugh!

ACC McQuillan

ACC Hunter

DI Blair

CC Hugh Orde!!!

ACC Kincaid

DS Stewart

ACC Harris

D Ch S Hanna

ACC Harris [again!]

ACC Kerr

I think I’m going backwards again.

The FOI response, promised last week on forensics , has not materialised.

Blog by blog I will take you through the swamp that is supposedly the investigation of terrorist activity in Northern Ireland. Thousands of other crimes are presumably dealt with in a similar fashion , while one of the architects, McGuinness, is DFM.

You will be unsurprised to learn that I have had no explanation from  the PSNI  about  their statement about Ed Moloney.

Grandpa McGuinness

On 7th january, oul Grandpa McGuinness, he of the folksy charm, tweeted “Today’s attack in Paris was appalling”.

This from a man who ordered many similar attacks. How many defenceless policemen did his comrades kill?

If you repeat a lie often enough..

Also, if the French Government is as brave as the British, it will already be negotiating with the terrorists.

Despite the demonstrations and the words, when the dust settles in Paris , the victims will be discarded by the state and will be left to the silence.

It will be interesting to assess French foreign policy in the coming months.

Meantime David Cameron is, in respect of toughness towards Islamic terrorists, [as they say in Texas] Big Hat no cattle.

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.