Justice tainted by politics is justice denied - Allister
01 September 2009
It has been confirmed to TUV Leader Jim Allister that at the time when Martin McGuinness first met British Officials (9 December 1994), leading to a series of such meetings and culminating in Sinn Fein’s first meeting with a UK Government Minister (May 1995), the Director of Public Prosecutions was considering a police file in which McGuinness was being investigated for 8 murders, conspiracies to murder and IRA membership.
However, as the talks with Sinn Fein continued the DPP in March 1995 directed ‘no prosecution’, the political convenience of which has caused Jim Allister to question if McGuiness was afforded special treatment. The TUV Leader’s suspicion is fuelled by the fact that the memo, classified as ‘secret’ and written by a Detective Chief Superintendent on 24 November 1994, which accompanied the police file to the DPP, controversially said this: “A factor in this matter is that the UK government may soon be meeting senior members of Sinn Fein, including Mr McGuinness, to plan the future of Northern Ireland. Mid-December has been mentioned. Forwarded for direction please. ACC Crime is aware of this minute.”*
The latest developments are the result of a 21 month investigation by the Police Ombudsman, following a complaint by Mr Allister as to whether political considerations had affected the outcome of “Operation Taurus”.
Operation Taurus was a police investigation into Martin McGuinness’ IRA links launched in the wake of a two part special by the Cook Report. In the programme McGuinness was dubbed “Britain’s Number One Terrorist” and named and unnamed former IRA activists claimed McGuinness had personally murdered people, including British soldiers and had ordered the murder of others as he moved through the senior IRA ranks. Mike Townson, the Cook Report’s editor, accused the government of adopting a “hands-off policy” in relation to McGuinness and added, “McGuinness is treated with kid gloves”**.
Interestingly, McGuinness’ response to the Cook Report was to brazenly declare, “I have never been a member of the IRA. I don’t have any sway over the IRA”!!!! Comforting to know that our Joint First Minister has such standards of probity!
At a recent meeting with the Senior Investigator from the Ombudsman Office it was confirmed to Mr Allister that the above secret memo was attached to the file which went to the DPP, that there were several other parts of the police file marked “secret”, that 3 witnesses made statements against McGuinness to the police and that the DPP’s direction of no prosecution issued in March 1995, at the very time when HMG was meeting McGuinness at the level of officials and preparing for a first ministerial meeting.
Commenting Jim Allister said, “It is a fundamental tenet of any worthwhile society that all citizens should be equal under the law and equally subject to the law. Political considerations should play no part in bringing wrongdoers to justice. Thus I am appalled to have it confirmed that the file forwarded on McGuinness, at the conclusion of Operation Taurus, contained direct, though secret, reference to the imminence of government contacts with Sinn Fein as a material consideration in deciding whether or not to prosecute him. This was not, in my view a legitimate policing or prosecution consideration, but the fact that it figured suggests to me that politics was allowed to taint the process. When justice is overwhelmed by political considerations, then justice is diminished and undermined. Sadly, in Northern Ireland the price of easing terrorists into government has been a blind eye to their vile activities.”
* first alleged in Liam Clarke and Kathryn Johnston’s book, “Martin McGuinness From Guns to Government”, page 228
**p 222 “Martin McGuinness From Guns to Government”
