Un "fucking"believable ... but TRUE
On the 11th November 1982 three unarmed IRA members were stopped at an RUC checkpoint in Craigavon, County Armagh and died as a result of gunshots.
On 24th November 1982 An RUC undercover unit, killed Michael Tighe and wounded Martin McCauley at an IRA arms cache which the two men had discovered by accident on a farm near Lurgan, County Armagh. Neither man was proved to be a member of any paramilitary group. Martin McCauley was later arrested in Colombia on the suspicion of teaching FARC guerillas in the use of explosives, in particular the "barrack buster"
On 12th December 1982 at an RUC checkpoint in Mullacreavie, County Armagh, 2 INLA members, Seamus Grew and Roddy Carroll were killed (the (alleged) intended main target, Dominic McGlinchey, was not in their car as expected)
On 24 May 1984 an inquiry under Deputy Chief Constable John Stalker of the Greater Manchester Police was opened into these 3 cases where it was alleged that a specially trained undercover RUC team known as the "Headquarters Mobile Support Unit" had carried out a "shoot-to-kill" policy.
SHOOT TO KILL was a 2 part serial drama and a discussion programme shown on 3 and 4 June 1990 which examined Deputy Chief Constable John Stalker's investigation into the alleged 'shoot to kill' policy carried out by the RUC. This drama was set arounfd the role of the Chief inverstigating officer Det Chief Inspector John Thorburn of Greater Manchester Police played by John Calder.
In The Times of 9 February 1988 John Stalker - removed from the case stated ,
"I never did find evidence of a shoot-to-kill policy as such. There was no written instruction, nothing pinned up on a noticeboard. But there was a clear understanding on the part of the men whose job it was to pull the trigger that that was what was expected of them."
On 23 June 1992 Mr Thorburn, withdrew a libel action against the RUC Chief Constable,Sir John Hermon, and he made a statement in which he took the opportunity to submit publicly that he was satisfied that the RUC had not pursued a shoot- to-kill policy in 1982 and that the RUC Chief Constable had not condoned or authorised any deliberate or reckless killings by his officers. Other members of the Stalker/Sampson inquiry team also stated in June 1990 that “the Greater Manchester officers wish to stress that the Stalker/Sampson Enquiry found no evidence of a ‘Shoot to Kill policy’ ”.
John Thorburn was a private citizen and acted as head of security for Coats Viyella plc, reporting directly to the Chaimran, Sir Davoud Alliance. The company had considerable manufacturing operations in Northern Ireland.
As theft of company textiles often involved falsification of computer records Lord Patel had the experience of dealing with John Thorburn as an outside contractor to provide an independent external audit and forensic analysis of computer systems, records, procedures etc., and so dealt with this bluff, straighforward Scot for a variety of reasons on several occasions.
Flying back from Belfast to Manchester one evening on a BA ATP (fondly known as Another Technical Problem) - whose cabin noise levels have to be experienced to be believed, Lord Patel decided to breach the topic of the "Shoot to Kill" policy
Lord Patel already knew that John Stalker only went to Northern Ireland twice and never stayed overnight and that it was John Thorburn who did all the groundwork over many months. The Special Branch officers at Belfast International, City and Manchester Airports all knew he was.
He turned slightly and looked squarely and his voice developed (even above the roar of the engines and their curious 7 bladed propellors) a sharpness and edgy timbre that is not easily forgotten.
" I can't of course tell you anything about the case, or what we did, or found out" .. he paused, searching for the right expresion...."But" ...." There are things that go on in this world that you wouldn't believe".
It seemed appropriate to shut up. The subject was never mentioned again.
After the revelations of Nuala O'Loan yesterday officially confirming that 40 retired officers, including two chief constables, failed to cooperate with her inquiry into collusion between the police and the UVF in the loyalist north Belfast estate of Mount Vernon in the 1990s. The report revealed that paid informants were directly involved in 10 murders and linked to a series of other crimes.
It has been confirmed that none of the officers involved in collusion with the loyalist terror gang are to be prosecuted.
Mrs O'Loan said the lack of relevant documentation, whether it was lost or destroyed, ruled out any legal action being taken against the Special Branch team who ran the UVF gang.
Whilst we all suspected what John Thorburn didn't wish to disclose to Lord Patel on that memorable flight, our collective state of inoccence has been smashed. There ARE things going on that you wouldn't have believed.
So when a Government scientist is found dead in a wood, apparently of a self inflicted wound.
When Bombs go off, or pretend to go off on London Transport....
When inoccent men are shot 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13 times in the head in public.
When financiers conceal gifts to political parties in collusion with the Prime Minister...
Just Remember
There ARE things going on that you wouldn't believe.
Pic : Royal Ulster Constabulary Chief Constable Sir John Hermon OBE QPM 74 at a
a rally in support of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in Northern Ireland after the Patten report on policing in NI. Saturday, September 18, 1999 BBC Sir John, whose wife Lady Sylvia 61 is now a Westminster MP suffers from Alzheimers disease and so presumably can remember absolutely nothing.
3 comments:
Dammit PP, just how big is your readership and why don't they post comments?? I've just put "John Thorburn viyella" into Google and hit the "Lucky" button and here we are.
No doubt there are things going on that I wouldn't believe but the conflict in N.Ireland isn't one of them.
You didn't mention why Stalker was removed and how Kevin Taylor's life was ruined.
The findings of Nuala O'Loan that Police and Security Services colluded with Loyalist terrorists is official confirmation of what may have been pieced together from other news items over the years.
Couple it with the revelations that senior members of the (P)IRA were agents for the Security Services and you may conclude that 30 years of terrorism has been sponsored (or initiated) by the Security Services / British Govt.
Names your readers may care to Google: Kevin Fulton, Samuel Jay Rosenfeld, Denis Donaldson and of course blogboy Martin Ingram.
Sam
1. I cannot explain the silent readership.
2. Perhaps not naive but held a tenuous belief (despite monthly visits of 2/3 days at a time to NI)in late 70's the 80's 90's to NI that the tales of collusion, were exaggerated and that Wallace and other authors were to a greater or lesser extent fantasists.
3. I assumed some knowledge of "The Stalker Affair" J Stalker's book and maybe Pau Lashmars book.
4. The point is that we now have official, incontravertible evidence in the public domain that people were murdered on the instruction of the RUC, they were paid for it, they were protected, they continue to be protected and the officers who gave the instructions remain beyond the law.
Flanagan is a complete lying bastard. Of course he knew what was going on. Of course he knew about thr web of informants, agents provacateurs, the murderers, the ethnic cleansing - all motivated by scetarian and religious bigotry which he shared.
It was going on before under Hermon.
All through from Reggie Maudling as Home Sec. (who then had responsibility for NI) right through to today and the cover up of the NIB robbery, McCausland murder etc.,
The political establishment in UK and on both sides of the Irish border know full well who the gangsters are, where and how they get their funds, and they protect them, they acquiesce in the forces of justice turning a blind eye, because they are delivered a sort of uneasy political peace.
Meanwhile the fuels are smuggled, the VAT is defrauded, the drugs are peddled, the whores (many of whom are children) are trafficked and sweated, the black taxis roam, the bars are owned and staffed, the counterfeiters operate, the rackets are run and their wealth accumulates around the world.
.. and BMW 's biggest dealership in the UK is in NI - and house prices soar in a society flush with illicit cash and illegal gain.
Meanwhile the fuels are smuggled, the VAT is defrauded, the drugs are peddled, the whores (many of whom are children) are trafficked and sweated, the black taxis roam, the bars are owned and staffed, the counterfeiters operate, the rackets are run and their wealth accumulates around the world.
Quite
And it's not just a Northern Ireland thing
There's something quite scary about the fact that we lock up more people per capita than anywhere else in Western Europe and yet so much organised vice and criminality is still taking place - in broad daylight much of the time
Something is seriously wrong
I suspect that we're locking up the wrong types of people
Re. the silent commenting thing
Most of the Postman's posts are essentially statements of fact. Personally speaking as a regular reader, I'd usually only comment if I had something useful, incredibly astute or funny to add
...which is rare
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