---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Delivered-To: •••@••.••• Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 19:03:32 -0400 To: •••@••.••• From: Paul Wolf <•••@••.•••> Subject: British army used paramilitaries in Northern Ireland ___________________________________________________________________ 1. [British] Army 'colluded' with loyalist killers 2. Security officers 'aided sectarian murders' in Ulster ___________________________________________________________________ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/2955941.stm Army 'colluded' with loyalist killers BBC, April 17, 2003 [linked article contains additional boxes, pull quotes, etc.] Rogue elements within the police and army in Northern Ireland helped loyalist paramilitaries to murder Catholics in the late 1980s, the UK's most senior police officer has said. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner's report into collusion between the security forces and loyalist paramilitaries also found that military intelligence in Northern Ireland helped to prolong the Troubles. Sir John Stevens said informants and agents "were allowed to operate without effective control and to participate in terrorist crimes". The latest report, called Stevens Three, found that members of the RUC and Army colluded with the largest loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), to murder Catholics. Its key findings were: * Actions or omissions by security forces led to deaths of innocent people * Murders of solicitor Pat Finucane and student Adam Lambert could have been prevented. * Collusion in both murders of Pat Finucane and Adam Lambert * Government minister was compromised in House of Commons * Three official inquiries wilfully obstructed and misled The report, which centres on the murder of Catholic solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989 and Protestant student Adam Lambert in 1987, was delivered to Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde on Thursday. Sir John said: "I have uncovered enough evidence to lead me to believe that the murders of Pat Finucane and Brian Adam Lambert could have been prevented. "I also believe that the RUC investigation of Pat Finucane's murder should have resulted in the early arrest and detection of his killers. "I conclude there was collusion in both murders and the circumstances surrounding them." The overwhelming bulk of the detail has been witheld because of potential future prosecutions. The Director of Public Prosecutions is considering whether criminal charges should be made against up to 20 Army and police personnel. A statement issued by the DPP's office said: "The contents of these files which are voluminous will be given careful and expeditious consideration. "However, it is not possible at this stage to say when any decision as to prosecution will be reached." After receiving the report, the chief constable said Sir John in his 21 recommendations had stressed the importance of the criminal investigation. "He confirmed that he had today sent a large file to the Director of Public Prosecutions to decide what to do in terms of criminal charges and whether prosecutions should be brought," said Mr Orde. He said many of the police officers questioned in the Stevens investigation had since retired. Mr Orde said he was determined that there would be no collusion under his command. The Finucane family has always believed the security forces were involved in his murder and have dismissed the report. His widow, Geraldine, said a full judicial inquiry was the only way to deal with the issue. Mr Finucane, a high-profile Catholic solicitor, was shot dead by the UDA in front of his family at his north Belfast home. The report also considered comments by former government minister Douglas Hogg, who said a month before Mr Finucane's killing that some solicitors were "unduly sympathetic" to the IRA. The inquiry found that to the extent that Mr Hogg's comments were based on information passed on by police, they were not justifiable and the minister was 'compromised'. Michael Finucane, the son of Pat Finucane, has called on the prime minister to set up an independent inquiry into his father's murder. "What needs to be looked is the extent to which it reached back into the Establishment," he said. "Those questions have not been answered in a public fashion and until there is a tribunal of inquiry established I don't believe they will be." However, Adam Lambert's mother has said she does not think there is a need for any inquiry. Ivy Lambert said she understood others felt differently but that her family had always supported the police and security forces. "They were under tremendous pressure at the time and mistakes were made," she said. The report also says its inquiries were obstructed by police and army officers, and vital evidence was concealed and destroyed. Since 1989, Sir John Stevens has been investigating allegations that elements within military intelligence and the RUC's Special Branch were colluding with loyalist assassination squads. During the course of the latest Stevens inquiry, the activities of the Army intelligence Force Research Unit were investigated. It recruited Brian Nelson as its agent at the top of the UDA. His role was to gather information on murder targets. Nelson, who died last week, insisted his handlers knew in advance that Pat Finucane was being targeted. The Stevens Report said his murder could have been prevented. The Stevens' investigating teams found obstruction and even harassment from both the Army and elements of the RUC's special branch. Sir John said a fire at their offices in 1990 was arson and that throughout their inquiries, they were spied on and betrayed by police and Army colleagues. He added that he is still determined to try to bring Pat Finucane's killers to justice - and he is still investigating just how far up the chain of command the collusion might have gone. ___________________________________________________________________ http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/ulster/story.jsp?story=398129 Security officers 'aided sectarian murders' in Ulster By Alan Erwin, PA News, 17 April 2003 Rogue elements in the security forces were involved in a deadly plot with loyalist paramilitaries to carry out a series of sectarian murders in Northern Ireland, a devastating new report confirmed today. Following a four-year inquiry into allegations of widespread collusion between Special Branch, Army officers and Protestant terrorists, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Sevens concluded there was damning proof of the use of agents in assassinations and the withholding evidence. Sir John, whose inquiries centred on the shooting of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane by the Ulster Defence Association in February 1989, said that his killing and the death of Protestant student Brian Adam Lambert in November 1987 could have been prevented. Launching his report at a press conference, Sir John said his three investigations had been "wilfully obstructed and misled". He added: "From day one this obstruction was cultural in its nature and widespread within parts of the Army and RUC, the FRU, and RUC Special Branch in particular." He said rumours and counter -- rumours had been spread, "deliberately designed to throw us off course". Echoing his comments in the report, his inquiries have been the largest investigation ever undertaken in the UK, he said: "It should not have taken 14 years to get to the point we are now. "None of us are above the law and no future inquiry should have to be conducted in the way we have had to conduct ours." He said it was "essential to the fight against terrorism here and elsewhere" that his 21 recommendations were implemented in full. Sir John said: "I will be coming back with Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary next January to audit and see they have been enacted." Sir John's main report, handed over to PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde, runs to thousands of pages. The public report is just 20 pages long. Sir John accepted it was short but said it was "robust". He said the public report could not go into detail because of the nature of ongoing investigations and further possible criminal charges and prosecutions. He said every single point was supported by evidence and supported by documentation. He said he had handed over the full report to retired Canadian judge Peter Corry, who has been asked by the Government to assess whether there should be a public inquiry into the murder of Patrick Finucane. Sinn Fein said there had to be nothing less than a full international judicial inquiry, which they claimed was needed to get to the heart of British military policy. Alex Maskey, the party's Lord Mayor of Belfast said: "This is not about rogue elements within the British system. It is about a state policy sanctioned at the highest level." In his report Sir John said: "My inquiries have highlighted collusion, the wilful failure to keep records, the absence of accountability, the withholding of intelligence and evidence, and the extreme of agents being involved in murder. "These serious acts and omissions have meant that people have been killed or seriously injured." Sir John also set out how his investigation -- the third since he was first brought in to examine collusion claims in 1989 -- have been obstructed. He added: "I have uncovered enough evidence to lead me to believe that the murders of Patrick Finucane and Brian Adam Lambert could have been prevented. "I also believe that the RUC investigation of Patrick Finucane's murder should have resulted in the early arrest and detection of his killers." During the biggest investigation of its kind ever mounted in Britain, Sir John found that members of the Army's covert Force Research Unit and the police Special Branch were guilty of a major lack of accountability by failing to keep records. "The unlawful involvement of agents in murder implies that the security forces sanction killings," the Stevens report said.
