ULSTER POLICE COVER UP MURDER BY INFORMER.

Special Branch officers who covered up the involvement of one of their agents in the murder of a British soldier in Ulster could face charges of perverting the course of justice, Sunday People can reveal. A formal complaint was lodged with the Police Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, yesterday about the former tout, Martin McGartland, and his role in the brutal slaying of an unarmed squaddie.
McGartland was recruited as an informer by RUC Special Branch in the late 1980s and early 1990s before dramatically escaping from an IRA interrogation squad. He has since admitted his role in the murder of soldier Tony Carlos Harrison.
The 21-year-old Londoner was shot dead by two IRA men who burst into his girlfriend's home at Nevis Avenue in east Belfast on June 19, 1991. McGartland drove the gunmen to and from the murder scene. Paratrooper Harrison had been on leave to discuss his future wedding plans with his fiancee. His murder was witnessed by her, her mother and a terrified 10-year-old girl.
Now a civilian with an interest in the case has come forward to lodge a formal complaint with the Ombudsman's office.
The man, who has asked to remain anonymous, says both McGartland and his handlers should be investigated. In particular, he says, the decision not to prosecute McGartland for murder or conspiracy to murder despite his confession, was illegal. He claimed that police were obliged to investigate any confession of murder. To refuse to do so, because the person confessing to the crime was a police informer, was not a legal act.
McGartland, who has since survived an IRA assassination attempt at his home in the north of England, has confessed to his role in the killing on a number of occasions. In a letter to the Daily Telegraph in February 1997 he said: "I would like to place on record the facts concerning the tragic murder of Private Tony Harrison, the soldier killed by two gunmen in 1991 while visiting his fiancee in Protestant East Belfast to discuss wedding plans.
"I was indeed the getaway driver in Pte Harrison's killing by the IRA, a fact that has haunted me ever since.
"But Pte Harrison's parents should know that one month before the shooting I heard of the plot and told Special Branch immediately.
"We spent hours driving up and down streets in the area trying to locate where a soldier, then thought to be a member of the Ulster Defence Regiment, was living.
"Special Branch made inquiries of the UDR and the British battalions then serving in Northern Ireland, all to no avail. We had no name, no address and no facts to go on. No trace could be found of the relatives of any soldier living in that area.
"On the day of the shooting I was called to a meeting by the IRA. Every such meeting I attended was on orders of my intelligence handlers so that I could report back.
"On this occasion I attended the meeting only to be told I was leaving that instant on an active service mission.
"My task in the four years I worked as an agent in Northern Ireland was to save the lives of innocent people.
"But I also had to make sure that my cover was not blown, for agents working inside the IRA were few and far between.
"I deeply regret what happened but I accept responsibility for my role in the events of that day."
This confession could never be challenged by the family. They were told by the prosecuting authorities in 1994 that they could not pursue legal proceedings for compensation because the coroner had failed to establish who killed their son.
The soldier's father Steve Seaman said at the time of the confession: "It is not a case of us desperately wanting compensation, but it would make our pain much more bearable to know how Tony died." At the time of Tony's murder - and shortly after McGartland failed in a bid to get compensation from the government for his time as an informer - Mr Seaman expressed deep frustration with the police handling of the case.
"We were outraged that McGartland was asking for money and desperately hoped his claim would fail," said his father a retired Catholic primary school caretaker from Bow, east London.
"It was sickening that some MPs could support a man who was an accomplice to our son's murderers.
"Tony would be married now with children. But he is dead and that will stay with us for the rest of our lives," Mr Seaman said.
"He had been a soldier for six years and we knew that there was a risk he might die in action.
"But to be shot in the back while watching television with his girlfriend is so worthless, so cowardly.
"He had talked to his mother only an hour or so before, asking how to cook pasta. And then he died, just like that."
The family have campaigned since their son's death to establish who killed him. McGartland claims he gave his RUC contacts the names of the two IRA men involved. Pte Harrison's parents are still deeply unhappy about the RUC's role in their son's murder.
"We are left with so many unanswered questions and have nobody to turn to," Mrs Seaman said.
"Why was Tony not warned if everyone knew that the IRA were about to kill in that area?
"He was a soldier and had to report his leave at his barracks."
Pte Harrison's fiancee was led by the gunmen to the bedroom of her home before they shot him five times.
"I was there when he was shot and I will never get over what happened," she said.
"What has hurt the most is that I try to get on with my life, every day a little bit more and, at the same time, there are MPs who actually listened to what this man had to say."
McGartland remains in hiding in England. In June 1999, he survived an IRA murder bid at his home in Whitley Bay.
Last night one source close to the complainant revealed: "The failure of the authorities to prosecute McGartland for murder shows that officially the state was prepared to allow agents to carry out murders.
"There has never been any way of addressing this before.
"Now the ombudsman can ask the questions and she will demand answers."
August 4, 2002

To date Martin McGartland and his police handlers have never been arreastd or interviewed over the murder of Tony Harrison.

Reconstruction of IRA attack In Roermond: Ross Coulthart

Mick O'Donnell & Ross Coulthart during the reconstruction of the murder of two innocent Australians in Roermond by the IRA.

Three weeks later, Donna Maguire (24) and Paul Hughes (26) from Newry, Seán Hick (30) from Glenageary, Co Dublin, and Gerard Harte (26) from Lurgan were charged with the double murder. The prosecution claimed that the four planned the killings, arranged forged passports and driving licenses, a getaway car and a safe house.

The court heard that Maguire, then the most wanted female terrorist in Europe, was a key figure in the operation. Eyewitnesses also provided testimony. Despite what the prosecution believed was a strong case, only Harte was convicted and his conviction was overturned on appeal.

TV show claims British knew of deadly IRA Dutch operation in advance.

TV show claims British knew of deadly IRA Dutch operation in advance
Suzanne Breen, Northern Editor

Nick Spanos: mistaken identity. A documentary to be screened next Sunday will air suspicions that British intelligence had advance knowledge of an IRA attack in Holland, in which two Australian tourists died, but failed to stop it.

Stephan Melrose (24) and Nick Spanos (28) were shot dead by IRA gunmen, who mistook them for British soldiers, in Roermond 20 years ago. This month the Melrose family visited Holland and Ireland in their quest to find answers about the murders.

Award-winning investigative journalist Ross Coulthart accompanied them and his programme will be screened on Australia's Channel Seven. It includes a confrontation between the reporter and Gerry Adams who served on the IRA Army Council at the time of the killings.

Coulthart said: "Just after the shooting, an Australian source with good links to British intelligence suggested to me that the British had details of the IRA cell operating in Europe, that they had information on its key members, and that they could possibly have stopped the attack. This is supported by ex-British agents we've interviewed."

There is speculation that at least one, and probably several, members of the IRA team in Europe were informers. Coulthart said information from British intelligence sources also suggested that, at the most senior level, one in two IRA leaders were British agents. "The question must be asked whether two Australians were sacrificed to protect informants in the IRA," he said. Donna Maguire and Paul Hughes from Newry, Sean Hick from Glenageary, Co Dublin, and Gerard Harte from Lurgan were charged with the double murder.

Forensic and eyewitness evidence was presented in court. Despite what the prosecution believed was a strong case, only Harte was convicted and his conviction was overturned on appeal.

Four months before the Australians' murder, Maguire was acquitted in a Dublin court of possessing explosives and maps of a British army base in Germany.

Maguire, Hick and Hughes were later acquitted of the 1990 murder of a British army major in Germany. Maguire was also acquitted of a bomb attack on a British army base in Hanover but was convicted of the 1989 failed bomb attack on the Osnabruck base.

Sunday Tribune:
August 22, 2010

Twenty Years On, A Family's Question Still Remains: Why Did The IRA Kill Our Sons?

The vicious IRA killings of two Australian tourists in Holland left two families waiting decades for answers, writes Suzanne Breen

The family of Stephan Melrose remember their son at the spot where he died 20 years ago

Stephan Melrose
Nick Spanos
Gerry Adams is confronted by an Australian TV crew about whether he played any part in the murder of two Australian tourists in Roermond in 1990
1234IT was a spur-of-the-moment decision to stop in the old cobbled square which looked so beautiful in the moonlight that summer's night. The four Australian tourists just couldn't resist parking their car and exploring the historic centre of Roermond.

That decision cost two of the travellers their lives. As they walked around the Dutch town and chose a restaurant for dinner, they didn't know the IRA was watching. Ninety minutes later, Stephan Melrose (24) and Nick Spanos (28) lay dead, their blood splattered over the old square they had so admired.

Melrose's wife Lyndal and Spanos's girlfriend, Vicki Coss, watched helplessly as two IRA gunmen, clad in black and wearing balaclavas, opened fire on the men. The Australians knew nothing of the IRA or that British soldiers based in Germany regularly crossed the border to socialise in Roermond.

Melrose and Spanos were tall, well-built and clean-shaven with short hair. Their appearance and their car's English-registration plates led the IRA to believe they were soldiers. Had the Australians the chance to utter a word as the gunmen approached, their accents would have saved them. But the IRA team's recklessness denied them even that.

Twenty years later, the Melrose family have travelled to Roermond and to Ireland, in search of answers to questions that have haunted them since the 1990 shooting. Justice has proved elusive. Four Irish people were charged with the double murder. Three were acquitted and the conviction of the fourth was over-turned on appeal.

There are strong suspicions British intelligence had advance knowledge of the attack and failed to act in order to protect agents in the IRA operating in Europe. The family have also long wanted to meet Sinn Féin leaders to discuss the attack.

Melrose and Spanos were Australian lawyers working in London. They'd been on a weekend break to Amsterdam, visiting museums and viewing Van Goghs. They were driving to Calais to catch the ferry back to England when they stopped at Roermond.

They had dinner in the Tin San Chinese restaurant, ordering a huge feast and drinking wine and beer. "They were laughing and joking – they were so happy," recalled waiter Shi Keung-Ko. Afterwards, they strolled back to their car. The others climbed inside but Melrose wanted to photograph the square's magnificent 18th century town hall.

He was setting up his camera and tripod when two gunmen, armed with an AK47 and a Ruger, ran across the square firing. Most of Melrose's head was blown away. One gunman then walked to the car side door and shot Spanos. The assailants made off in a stolen Mazda, driven by a third IRA member.

Lyndal Melrose, her dress covered in blood, ran towards café owner Henri Tijsje-Kloisen screaming: "I've been married nine months and my husband's dying." Three weeks later, Donna Maguire (24) and Paul Hughes (26) from Newry, Seán Hick (30) from Glenageary, Co Dublin, and Gerard Harte (26) from Lurgan were charged with the double murder. The prosecution claimed that the four planned the killings, arranged forged passports and driving licenses, a getaway car and a safe house.

The court heard that Maguire, then the most wanted female terrorist in Europe, was a key figure in the operation. Eyewitnesses also provided testimony. Despite what the prosecution believed was a strong case, only Harte was convicted and his conviction was overturned on appeal.

"The family's journey to Holland and Ireland was an attempt to find explanations," says award-winning investigative journalist Ross Coulthart, who accompanied them. The trip was filmed as a documentary for Australia's Channel Seven and will be screened next Sunday. It includes a confrontation between Coulthart and Gerry Adams.

Moving welcome

After the shooting, the IRA apologised. At the time of the murder trial in Holland, the Melroses were too emotionally distressed to attend and also lacked the resources for the trip. But a fortnight ago, Stephan Melrose's parents – Roy and Beverley – his sisters Helen and Susy, and Susy's husband Ian visited the murder spot in Roermond.

"They were given a moving welcome by people in the town. There wasn't a dry eye in the square when they laid a wreath at the spot where Stephan was killed," says Coulthart.

The family also had "a very candid meeting" with Jo Lauman, the Dutch prosecutor in the case. "He insisted that a very strong case had been presented against the accused," says Coulthart. The film-makers also tracked down eyewitnesses and interviewed former British agents in the IRA.

"Just after the shooting in 1990, an Australian source with good links to British intelligence suggested to me that the British had details of the IRA cell operating in Europe, that they had information on its key members, and that they could possibly have stopped the attack. This is supported by ex-British agents we have interviewed for the programme," says Coulthart.

There is speculation that at least one member, and probably several, of the IRA team in Europe was working for British intelligence. Coulthart says he has also information from former British intelligence figures that at the most senior leadership level in the IRA, one in two leaders were British agents.

"There is a strong possibility that British intelligence had advance warning of this attack but didn't stop it," says Coulthart. "The question must be asked whether two Australians were sacrificed to protect informants in the IRA. If this is so then British intelligence is every bit as responsible and every bit as evil as the gunmen who pulled the trigger. Our programme is very critical of the IRA but it must also be said that the British fought a very dirty war."

Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness were on the IRA Army Council at the time of the Australians' deaths. "The Melroses wanted to meet both men," says Coulthart. "We wrote to them asking about this and also to interview them on camera. They refused, saying it would be like a soap opera.

"We then wrote requesting that Gerry Adams meet the family without cameras present. We received no reply. When we came to Ireland we repeatedly asked Sinn Féin for meetings but they never got back to us."

However, the Australian film crew door-stepped Gerry Adams as he launched a celebrity Poc Fada at Stormont. Adams said he regretted the killings and expressed sympathy to the families. But he insisted he was never in the IRA and his role in past events was "an open book".

Coulthart says: "I asked him why Brendan Hughes, one of his closest friends, had said he was an IRA leader and had ordered murders. He replied, 'Brendan's dead now'. I asked him why so many of his former IRA colleagues were saying he'd been an IRA leader and he said, 'You'll have to ask them that.'"

When Coulthart asked Adams if he was on the Army Council in 1990, he replied: "You shouldn't be coming here and presuming to make assertions and allegations like that."

The film's producer, Mick O'Donnell, was stunned at Adams' tone: "He thought it impudent to be even asked the question when it was entirely reasonable. It seems he doesn't get a rough ride from some Irish media, that there is a desire not to pick at the scabs.

"It's very different in Australia. When there are suggestions that any of our politicians are involved in wrong-doing of a far less serious nature than Gerry Adams is accused of, it's open season."

Coulthart showed Adams a secret document released by the British Public Records Office under the 30-year rule. It disclosed that in 1972 Adams as "an IRA representative" met MI6 agent Frank Steele for ceasefire discussions at a house on the Derry-Donegal border. Adams told Coulthart he had met British government, but never British intelligence representatives.

While Adams refused to meet the Melroses, a former Belfast IRA member and bomb-maker did. Tommy Gorman was one of the 'Magnificent Seven' who escaped from the prison ship the Maidstone. Gorman, who now lives in Donegal, told the Sunday Tribune: "I thought it important to meet this family.

"Their son was cut down with a wonderful life ahead of him, as part of a conflict that was nothing to do with him. Had it been my son, I'd have found it very hard to handle. The family shouldn't have been left hanging in mid-air, they deserved some sort of explanation.

"I told the Melroses that the volunteers responsible didn't set out to kill Australian tourists, that it made no sense from any angle – moral or propaganda – that it was a huge mistake. I wasn't part of the IRA leadership, I wasn't part of any European unit. But, as an IRA volunteer, I shared part of the collective responsibility for what happened. You can't distance yourself just because you don't like one particular operation.

Healing process

"In 1990, people like myself were lobbying for a ceasefire because we believed the armed struggle was going nowhere. What I find disgraceful is that the leadership was sending volunteers to Europe, to kill and be killed, when they were involved in secret talks with the British about a settlement far short of a republic. All operations should have been suspended during those talks."

Coulthart says meeting Gorman helped the healing process for the Melroses: "At the start, the body language was telling. Roy Melrose, Stephan's father, looked at Tommy with hostility and contempt. After four hours of talking, that changed. Tommy faced hard questions about the murders. It is to his enormous credit that he replied candidly, and to Gerry Adams' shame that he didn't do the same.

"Tommy told the Melroses about civil rights protestors being beaten off the streets, about Catholics being unable to get jobs, about Bloody Sunday. It gave them a perspective on why young people had joined the IRA."

As the family were leaving Gorman's home, Beverley Melrose – Stephan's mother – admired the roses in his garden. The ex-IRA man picked her some flowers. "Beverley kissed and hugged him. It was extremely emotional," says Coulthart.

There were 67,000 British soldiers based in Germany. From its viewpoint, the IRA's European campaign was disastrous. It killed 10 people in 12 years – four of whom were civilians.

In September 1989, Heidi Hazell (26), the German wife of a British soldier, was shot dead by mistake. The following month, an RAF man of Indian origin, Maheshkumar Islania (34), and his six month-old daughter died in a gun attack. The AK47 used was the same one which killed the two Australians nine months later. Islania's wife escaped injury in the shooting. An eyewitness said: "It was a horrendous scene. She was clutching the dead baby, refusing to let it go."

Sunday Tribune:
August 22, 2010

NUJ condemns police seizure of phone.

NUJ condemns police seizure of phone


The National Union of Journalists has expressed alarm at the actions of the Police Service of Northern Ireland in seizing a mobile phone belonging to Derry-based freelance journalist Eamonn MacDermott.

Mr MacDermott's phone was seized by the PSNI today, Thursday August 19 2010, on foot of a warrant.
Irish Secretary Séamus Dooley said the decision to confiscate the phone represents a threat to the confidentialty of journalistic sources and was viewed with concern by journalists throughout Ireland and the UK.

NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear condemened the PSNI move. In a statement he said: "Eamonn MacDermott is an established freelance journalist working in Northern Ireland, covering sensitive stories and with a wide range of contacts. The seizure of his phone and the accessing of his phone records by the police is another attack on the right of journalist to operate in Northern Ireland. The right to protect confidential sources of information is compromised when police act in this way and we take this action very seriously. Just as we supported the right of Suzanne Breen to protect her sources we protect the right of Eamonn MacDermott."



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Smithwick Tribunal & Martin Ingram

After an assurance that the British Government would remove a threat of imprisonment hanging over former British Army intelligence officer Martin Ingram so he can give evidence to the tribunal over the murder of two RUC officers Breen and Buchanan , it can now be reported that Ingrim has received no undertaking from the British Government, this means that Martin Ingram will not give his evidence to the tribunal. It is also noted that former British soldier and MI5 agent Kevin Fulton will be hindered in his evidence to the tribunal as a number of journalist's and UTV have secretly handed over notes and interview material to the PSNI ( Police )



There is evidence that the First & Deputy First Ministers Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness have shown no support for the Tribunal, a request for the First & Deputy First Ministers went unanswered. This will clearly hinder the Tribunal in it's findings, it is expected that they will find no evidence of Irish state collusion. It is clear that there is no support from republicans or the British Government into the murders of the two police officers.