| From Unity, 27 January 2007 |
Special Branch collusionby James StewartRaymond McCord’s courageous fight to expose the killers of his son Raymond, despite police intimidation and threats from the UVF, has been justified by the damming report of Special Branch collusion by the Police Ombudsman, Nuala O’Loan.Mrs O’Loan’s findings have sent shock waves of outrage and horror throughout Ireland and Britain. She blamed the high command of the RUC and the PSNI for collusion between Special Branch officers and a gang of UVF serial killers based in the Mount Vernon area of Belfast. The Ombudsman’s report stated that • the Mount Vernon chief, Mark Haddock, was paid around £80,000 as a police informer between 1990 and 2003; in addition, a number of his associates in the Mount Vernon UVF were also informers; • after Haddock admitted the murder of a Catholic woman, Sharon McKenna, to his handlers in the Special Branch his monthly retainer fee was increased from £100 to £160 in 1993; • during the years from 1991 to 2003 reliable intelligence linked Haddock and his gang to ten murders, plus seventy-two other crimes, including ten attempted murders, drug dealing, and a bomb attack in the Republic. Mrs O’Loan stated that a number of documents, including parts of murder files, decision logs, and intelligence documents, were found to be either missing, lost, or destroyed. She concluded that this was due to a “deliberate strategy” rather than an oversight. She also found that vital intelligence about murders and other serious crimes involving Mount Vernon UVF was withheld by Special Branch officers from detectives investigating the cases. • Searches for UVF arms were blocked by the Special Branch for no valid reason. • Misleading information was prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. • Haddock was reportedly “babysat” through police interviews by his Special Branch handlers to ensure that he did not incrixxxxxxxxxxxxxminate himself. • False notes on interviews were created by Special Branch officers. • Intelligence linking police informers—including Haddock—to a bomb attack in 1997 on a Sinn Féin office in Monaghan was not passed to the Garda. At the beginning of her report Mrs O’Loan said: “It would be easy to blame the junior officers’ conduct in dealing with various informants and indeed they are not blameless. However they could not have operated as they did without the knowledge and support of the highest levels of the RUC and the PSNI.” The Ombudsman also disclosed in her report that two retired assistant chief constables, seven detective chief superintendents and two detective superintendents were among forty officers who refused to be interviewed. Already pressure is mounting on the former RUC chief Sir Ronnie Flanagan to resign or be sacked from his position as overseer of policing in England. The Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Peter Hain, has dismissed calls for a public inquiry, claiming that there are too many such inquiries in Northern Ireland already, costing too much. However, it is clear that Special Branch and indeed British Army collusion with paramilitaries goes far beyond the limited area of the Mount Vernon UVF. Relatives of victims are now preparing to take civil cases, which should further expose the collusion between sections of the security forces and terrorist organisations. Those who colluded with and covered up murders must be publicly exposed and brought to justice. Also, the role of the security forces must be made public. |
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