March 13, 2011

23

EXCLUSIVE BAGGOTT PRESSURE TURNED UP

DOUBLE
WHAMMY!
BLOODBATH: The aftermath of the UVF massacre in The Heights Bar in Loughlinisland in 1994. Below, the chief suspect in the murders, Gorman McMullan. Right, Cop chief Matt Baggott has come into sharp criticism over the delayed report into the shootings

Cops refuse to reveal spy gun hit info

By JOHN CASSIDY
THE Sunday W o r l d has been gagged by a British police force over a probe into the IRA murder bid on RUC agent Martin McGartland. Two months after Northumbria Po l i c e refused to answer his questions about its investigation into his 1999 shooting. the same force is now refusing to answer Sunday W o r l d questions about the sanctioned Prov oh i t . And the force who have yet to charge a single IRA terrorist with the near fatal shooting claims our request for answers under the Freedom of Information Act is vexatious. It is the same response it gave to Martin McGartland when he asked for answers to questions on his case. Last night, McGartland accused Northumbria Police of a political cover up to protect Sinn Fein and the peace process. Northumbria Police cant give a straight answer to a straight question, he told the Sunday World this week from his secret hideaway address somewhere in the UK.

NO ANSWERS: McGartland

THE Chief Constable is facing a double whammy over Police Ombudsman probes into UVF atrocities.
Matt Baggott is already facing complaints from the McGurks Bar families over his response to the Ombudsmans report into that atrocity and his failure to say sorry
Now Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson is preparing to deliver another damning report this time into the RUC investigation into the UVF massacre at Loughinisland.
The report into the slaughter of six Catholic men as they watched a World Cup football match on television at The Heights Bar in the County Down village in June 1994 was due to be published next week. But now it has been delayed again the second time it has been postponed over the past two years. The relatives had first been told they would see the report into claims of alleged security force collusion and a bungled police investigation to catch the killers in September 2009. Now the Sunday W o r l d has revealed that the Ombudsman has told the families he needs more time to consider new evidence and to make factual corrections to the report. I n Ju ly last year,the Al Hutchinson had t op u l lt h e report into the UVF at t a ck on McGurks bar in 1971 after some families reacted angrily to some of the rep o r t s findings clearing the police of either aiding the at t a ckers or failing to properly i nvestigat ei t . SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie has

More heat on cop boss after second loyalist massacre report is delayed
By JOHN CASSIDY
lodged a strong complaint with Mr Hutchinsons office at yet another delay in the Loughinisland report . The South Down MP is due to meet him tomorrow to discuss the issue this second delay. It is my view that the victims have been treated in a most unacceptable manner by the Ombudsmans office, said the SDLP leader. Patience has worn thin with the Ombudsmans handling of Loughinisland report. I will be looking for answers for the families and I will be outlining in the strongest possible terms the need for this report to be published as soon as possible. The Sunday W o r l d has revealed that UVF brigadier-in-chief John Bunter Graham sanctioned the atrocity. He asked his south-east Antrim brigadier Rab Warnock to get a car. Warnock in turn asked UVF Mount Vernon commander Mark Haddock to secure a car. Haddock approached his Catholic friend and UVF member Terry Fairfield aka police informer Mechanic to get him a car. Fairfield supplied the Triumph Acclaim but denies knowing what it was to be used i n . The Police Ombudsmans offices investigation into the atrocity has largely focused on this getaway car used by the UVF gang. Investigators from the Ombudmans office have been looking at the purchase, use and disposal of the Triumph Acclaim getaway car by the killers. The investigators also looked at the role of Terry Fairfield in supplying the car. They are also keen to establish who in the RUC gave the go-ahead, two years after the pub killings, for the getaway car to be destroyed. It was stored, uncovered, at a police station in the mid-Down area but eventually taken away and scrapped. The investigation is also expected to report on why people arrested including leading suspects were not subject to forensic examination. At one stage during the Ombudsmans investigation officers arrested a parttime PSNI reserve constable at his home in Co Down. He was questioned about assisting an offender, perverting the course of justice and withholding information. But the Public Prosecution Service decided not to proceed with charges against the officer.

Disgrace
I believe Northumbria Police have familial DNA from the crime scene linked to family members of the gunmen. I believe the police have told the Government, MI5 or its advisers of this familial DNA and the Northumbria Police have been told not to act on it as it could rock the political boat in Northern Ireland. It is an absolute disgrace that Northumbria Police can think they can fob off newspapers who are making a genuine request for information about the attempt on my life. As the victim in this case, no one is keener than I for the perpetrat o r sf o rt h e s avage at t a ck upon me that changed my l i f ef o rever,b e apprehended, put before t h e courts and sent to prison. The Sunday W o r l d has supported me in my quest for this to happen. Northumbria Police Neither I nor the Sunday Wo r l d I would do anything that would prevent this from happening. Northumbria Police are so desperate to silence me and the Sunday World, to stop us for asking embarrassing questions, that they will do or say anything whether or not it is true and irrespective of what damage they do to me or anyone else in the process.

Insisting
This cleared the way for Mr Hutchinson to publish his report. He told the families at the beginning of last month that he would publish in the week beginning March 21. Miss Ritchie said she will be demanding an early publication dat e at tomorrows meeting and insisting that Mr Hutchinsons o f f i c es t i ck st ot h i s . The six innocent Catholic men who were killed in the atrocity at the Heights Bar included the oldest victim of the Troubles, 87 year-old Barney Green. His 59 year-old nephew Dan McCreanor died beside him. The youngest to die was 34 year-old Adrian Rogan; brothers-in-law Eamon Byrne and Patsy OHare, and Malcolm Jenkinson were the other victims.

Revealed
The families have suspected for years that a secret deal was reached to prevent the prosecution of the UVF killers. The dirty deal was believed to have been done as part of an agreement to get a loyalist ceasefire in October 1994 and to protect security force agents involved in the massacre. One suspect is king of the sex swingers Gorman Gormy McMullan who was arrested and questioned over the atrocity