Phillips tainted by Stalker inquiry
David Phillips, the chief constable of Kent who was drafted in to
investigate the murder of Rosemary Nelson, was second in command of
Greater Manchester police when that force became involved in the
effort to discredit John Stalker and have him removed from the
investigation into the RUC killings of six men in Armagh in 1982. It
was widely believed at the time that Stalker was getting too close to
the truth about the shoot-to-kill operations of the RUC's E4a squad
and had to be removed from the inquiry.
Stalker was thought to have uncovered a tape from the hayshed in
which Michael Tighe was killed near Lurgan which pointed towards a
planned RUC killing and not a spontaneous shoot-out.
Further, the Kent police under Phillips was heavily criticised in the
MacPherson report into the killing of black teenager Stephen
Lawrence. The Kent police ``found no evidence to support the
allegation of racist conduct by any Metropolitan police officer'' a
conclusion with which MacPherson ``roundly disagreed''.
These revelations will cause serious disquiet among nationalists, who
were already less than convinced that Phillips could live up to the
responsibility of uncovering the truth about the Nelson killing.
Speaking to An Phoblacht, Sinn Féin's Upper Bann Assembly member Dr.
Dara O'Hagan, a close friend of the Nelson family, said: ``Nothing
short of an independent inquiry into the murder of Rosemary Nelson
will alleviate the fears and concerns of everyone interested in
justice and human rights''.
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