Statement by TUV Leader Jim Allister:-

 

“As the new Census begins, the call by the widower of Census collector, Joanne Mathers, for the HET to re-open the investigation into her brutal murder is both timely and right. This was one of the most callous and vile murders the IRA ever carried out.

 

“The purpose of the murder was to make an unmistakeable statement of intimidation against census workers, at a time when IRA/Sinn Fein had a perverted campaign against the census. Now would be a good time for Sinn Fein to apologise for that wicked campaign. It is unthinkable that, given its wider purpose, murdering an innocent woman collecting census forms was not sanctioned at the highest level within the IRA in Londonderry. So who was in charge of the IRA in the city in 1981?

 

“Maybe, it is because in 2011 the murder throws up too many awkward questions for Sinn Fein, that there will be huge efforts to suppress the search for truth, as well as justice. If Martin McGuinness is now a genuine devotee of justice, then, he should have no difficulty in sharing knowledge on his specialist subject, the operation of the IRA in Londonderry.

 

“I, therefore, call on McGuinness to come clean - not Father Chesney style - and tell the police what he and his cohorts know about the sanction, planning and murder of  Joanne Mathers. Maybe, as together as they drown the shamrock in Washington today, Peter Robinson - who I'm sure had something appropriate to say when Joanne Mathers was murdered - could encourage his partner to help the police with anything he knows!”