RUC spin doctors give false information
No evidence to back claims
by Laura Friel
Phoblacht has learned that the RUC gave false
information in briefings to journalists after three men
were arrested for the killing of loyalist Robert
Dougan.
Immediately after their arrest the men were branded
``IRA suspects'' and later journalists were told that
there was forensic evidence against them. The shooting
of a drug dealer, Brendan Campbell, 24 hours earlier,
was already being labelled as a DAAD killing and linked
to the IRA by the RUC.
Briefing the media, the RUC claimed ballistic evidence
linked the weapon used in the Campbell killing to a
previous shooting which, alleged the RUC, had been
carried out by DAAD. According to the RUC, DAAD is
simply a covername for the IRA. RUC Chief Ronnie
Flanagan believed that a previous gun attack in Meadows
Tavern in which Campbell was wounded but survived was
carried out by DAAD.
The message was clear. Create a climate of blame around
the IRA and allow unionist politicians and the media to
clamour for Sinn Féin to be excluded from the talks.
The RUC were acting as spin doctors for the Unionist
Party.
Significantly, Campbell did not believe DAAD or the IRA
was behind the Meadows Tavern attack. After it he took
out a £15,000 contract on the man he believed was
behind the attempt on his life, another drug dealer
known as `Studs'.
Meanwhile, more ``IRA suspects'' were being arrested by
the RUC in West Belfast. Some were beaten, many were
threatened with death, their families were threatened
and their solicitors. Most were later released without
charge.
By contrast, months of `investigation' by the RUC into
the sectarian killing of Catholics by loyalist death
squads had resulted in next to nothing. The admission
by the RUC that they had evidence linking the UDA with
the murder of Catholics had to be dragged out of a very
reluctant Chief Constable.
Nationalists in the North will remember that less than
a year ago the RUC said that Robert Hamill had died
during ``a clash between rival factions'' in Portadown.
The RUC claimed they had moved in to ``separate the
groups'' but had been forced back after coming under
attack themselves. RUC statements, issued shortly after
Hamill had been kicked to death by a loyalist mob while
the RUC sat back and let them, were of course later
exposed as a tissue of lies.
Now the RUC's word was to be treated as gospel. The RUC
asserted it, the British Secretary of State accepted it
and the Dublin government believed the British
government. Mowlam was `unable' to substantiate the
RUC's claim, the case was sub judice. Labelling
detainees ``IRA suspects'' even before they are
questioned, let alone before a trial, is apparently not
considered sub judice.
``There is not a shred of forensic evidence,'' a source
has told An Phoblacht. A solicitor representing one of
the three men accused of killing Dougan dismissed the
prosecution's case and accused the RUC of deliberately
misleading the court. Appearing in Belfast Magistrates
Court on Monday Philip Breen challenged the RUC.
Brandishing a newspaper article, fellow solicitor,
Kevin Winters described the media as ``well briefed''.
The specifics of evidence were being denied to the
court, he said.
There is no forensic evidence to link the accused with
the shooting. No weapon has been recovered. The
defendants have not incriminated themselves and
identification evidence has already been challenged in
Belfast's High Court. Circumstantial evidence has been
described as flimsy. Despite the RUC's ``IRA suspects''
tag, no one has been charged with IRA membership. In
the interests of natural justice Samuel Baker, Sean
Valente and William Groves should never go to trial.
Tragically, in the interests of political expediency,
the charade may be pushed towards an attempted
conviction. Pawns in a political game, which even by
the time of their first court appearance had already
moved to Dublin Castle, the trio face an uncertain
future.
The future of a fourth man, Ronan Kennedy, appearing
separately on a charge of withholding information, also
hangs in the balance. Amnesty International and the Six
county based Committee for the Administration of
Justice are already monitoring what is already being
billed as a possible Birmingham Six style miscarriage
of justice case.
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