NIO block inquiry into beating of Davy Adams
The official inquiry into the brutal and vicious beating of
republican POW Davy Adams by the RUC has run into serious
difficulties after the NIO refused to pay his solicitors.
The Independent Commission of Police Complaints (ICPC) had
initially ordered the inquiry after Adams won 30,000 in damages
against the RUC because of multiple injuries he received
following his arrest and detention at Castlereagh holding centre
four years ago.
After the RUC beating Adams spent three weeks in hospital for
treatment to a broken leg, two fractured ribs, a punctured lung
and cuts to his face, chest and body.
In the ruling on behalf of Davy Adams, Justice Kerr said he
``could not excuse the assault [and] . . . damages must be
awarded to mark the law's condemnation of such illegal
behaviour''.
A team led by Strathclyde's Assistant Chief Constable Jim Orr is
currently nearing the end of the inquiry but the refusal by the
ICPC and NIO to pay Adams's solicitors, Madden and Finucane, has
effectively brought the investigation to a standstill.
Adams's solicitor, Mr McMenamin said: ``The situation has arisen
due to the fact that the NIO Police Division and/or the Police
Authority have refused to pay expenses that both the ICPC and the
Strathclyde investigation team believe are reasonable and
necessary for the proper conduct of the inquiry.''
In July the ICPC and NIO wrote to McMenamin refusing to met his
request for payment.
The letter also said, ``a full investigation is clearly in your
client's interest and the commission is of the opinion that any
costs should be borne by him.''
Last week, in another letter the NIO said it could ``not see any
grounds'' for his firm to be funded.
This latest NIO interference with an inquiry into RUC brutality
raises the question about who benefits and who loses out from any
investigation to establish the truth and how this effects the
impartiality of any such investigation.
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