Republican News · Thursday 26 June 2003

Still covering up collusion

As the world's police services gathered in Belfast's Waterfront Hall last weekend to discuss so-called organised crime a protest was held against organised collusion by the RUC/PSNI, organised by campaign group An Fhírinne (The Truth)

For over 30 years, the destruction of evidence has been a defining method of cover up for Crown forces engaging in covert activities outside the operation of the law. The latest revelation that British Intelligence documents sought by the Stevens' team for over three years have been destroyed by the British Army is nothing new.

According to the media, the Stevens' team has spent the last six months studying documents detailing the killings carried out by FRU agents in files held by the British Ministry of Defence. But key documentation, which would have identified the fine detail of collusion by their British Intelligence handlers and their military and political masters, has been destroyed.

The MoD-issued forms were used to collate information passed by informers working for the FRU to their handlers (and onto the MoD), material directly related to killings being investigated by Stevens.

According to 'a source in the Stevens' team, the documents were first requested from the MoD three years ago, after interviews with a former FRU operative, known only as Martin Ingram, revealed the existence of so-called 'secret books' and documents detailing information passed to British Intelligence handlers.

The significance of these documents is clear. For example, in the case of the Finucane killing, they would expose just who knew what and when within the British military establishment.

Following the initial request, the MoD lied and denied the existence of the documents. Later, when Stevens discovered a documents registry, the team was able to establish that the documents did in fact exist but it was already too late, a source speaking to the media said last week.

"We have discovered that these files did exist when we originally asked for them but incredibly by the time the [British] Army admitted having them, they had been destroyed," a source told Greg Harkin of the Sunday People.

According to the Sunday Times, most of the paperwork relating to 'Stakeknife' and the documents relating to the killing of Pat Finucane have been destroyed.

The British Army "is entitled to do so", writes Liam Clarke, "if, after eight years, no requests are made for it".

But such a sorry excuse has been dismissed by FRU 'whisleblower' Martin Ingram, who claimed Hugh Orde, formerly responsible for the day-to-day running of the Stevens' Inquiry and currently the PSNI Chief Constable, knew the identity of 'Stakeknife' three years ago and should have found out the truth long ago.

The destruction of records was "a highly dubious practice only used to cover your tracks", said the former FRU operative.

Meanwhile, according to the Sunday Times, "Stevens has now received testimony suggesting that informers who had become worthless were killed by other agents to further secure their cover and "to save money on resettlement programmes".

The source of this new allegation is said to be a retired member of L Branch of the former FRU (now renamed) and headed by Gordon Kerr, now Brigadier and until recently British military attaché in Beijing.

Sinn Féin councillors in the Omagh District have succeeded in passing a motion calling for an inquiry into collusion in Omagh and Tyrone - despite an abstention by SDLP councillors. The motion was formally proposed by Cllr Barry McElduff.