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Derry Journal
01 February 2008
A woman widowed on Bloody Sunday last night vowed to “campaign for truth until the death”.
In an interview with the ‘Journal,’ Eileen Doherty-Green described waiting on the findings of the Saville Inquiry as being “stuck in limbo” 36 years after the British Army murdered 14 people in the Bogside.
Mrs Doherty-Green, whose husband, Patrick was among those shot dead by the Paras, claimed the delay in publishing the findings was a “stalling tactic.”
The mother of six, who has since re-married, said: “The whole of Derry knows what happened that day. Paras giving evidence to the tribunal made it sound like they were rounded on by marchers who hemmed them in but their statements were totally inaccurate and incoherent.”
Mrs. Doherty-Green who was also on the ill-fated march, said: “I was 29 when they murdered my husband. I am 66 this year and I want the matter resolved.”
Photographs and forensic tests for gunshot residue proved 31-year-old Patrick Doherty was unarmed when he was shot dead outside the Rossville Flats.
His widow said: “It is tragic to think that mothers have gone to their graves having never had their murdered sons’ names cleared. There are now grandchildren whose grandfathers were murdered and names never cleared.
“The campaign started in 1985 when my son Tony asked me if I would like to be in contact with the other famliies. I want my son to know how thankful I am for that.”
“To Tony his daddy was his hero and he wouldn’t rest until his name was cleared.
“It has been a long hard road but the campaigning was worth it. There is nothing I wouldn’t go through to ensure the truth is told about that day.”
Asked did she believe that prosecutions would follow, Mrs Doherty-Green stated: “Not one Paratrooper will spend a day in jail. I will be content so long as the names of all the dead are cleared. It’s madness to think otherwise. Will we get the truth? I hope so, we deserve it as do th
e children and grandchildren of the deceased.”
Asked what it meant to her that thousands of people still attend the annual Bloody Sunday march, Mrs. Doherty-Green said: “It shows the passion of the people for justice. They march on the coldest day of the year, every year. First we marched for an Inquiry, now people march for the findings to be made public. We got the Inquiry and we couldn’t have done any more. What we have already achieved is remarkable. We had a Lord Chief Justice tribunal rubbished, people should realise how big that was. It was history in the making.”
It has been suggested that this could be the last year of the Bloody Sunday March should the findings be released.
Mrs Doherty-Green added: “I wouldn’t like people to think we are dragging them out but if others believe different it is their own decision. I am just very glad of all the support down the years.”
BBC
1 Feb 08
Two cases against men charged with dissident republican activity have been withdrawn because of concerns over low copy number DNA testing.
The controversial technique was criticised during the Omagh bomb trial.
An attempted murder charge against John Brady, 38, from Strabane was dropped, as were incendiary charges against Barrie Devine, 19, also from Strabane.
The decisions could place a question mark over the use of the technique in a number of other cases.
Mr Brady has been in jail for four years, charged with the attempted murder of a part-time member of the Royal Irish Regiment in Sion Mills in 2002.
He was expected to go trial on Monday, but the Public Prosecution Service informed his defence lawyers the case has been withdrawn.
The decision was taken after a review of all cases involving low copy number DNA evidence.
The technique is highly sensitive and can be used to test DNA samples 1,000 times smaller than a grain of salt.
The PSNI suspended the use of the technique after it was strongly criticised by the judge in the Omagh bomb trial.
The charges against Mr Devine were also dropped for the same reason.
He was expected to go on trial next month charged with making and possessing an incendiary device.
A number of other cases which rely upon the technique are expected to come before the courts in the near future.
Defence lawyers have called for those cases to be withdrawn.
Henry McDonald, Ireland editor
Sunday February 3, 2008
The Observer
Raymond McCord is set to become the first Protestant victim of the Troubles to address a Sinn Féin Ard Fheis. The campaigning father, whose son was beaten to death in 1997 by a loyalist gang in north Belfast, has accepted an invitation from the party to speak at its annual conference at the end of this month.
During his speech, said McCord, he intends to raise the issue of collusion between the security forces and paramilitaries.
Raymond McCord Jnr was killed in 1997 at a quarry on the northern outskirts of Belfast. He had been facing charges of possession of cannabis, which had been provided to him by the UVF commander in the Mount Vernon area of the city.
The local UVF boss, named in the Irish parliament as Mark Haddock, blamed McCord Jnr for importing the drugs and, to cover his own back, allegedly dispatched a UVF punishment squad to abduct and kill him.
For the past decade his father has fought a lone campaign to expose his son’s killers. In the process he discovered that several members of the gang were informers working for Special Branch. McCord has alleged their handlers turned a blind eye to keep their ‘intelligence assets’ intact.
His campaign for justice eventually led to last year’s damning report by the Police Ombudsman, Nuala O’Loan, who found widespread collusion between some police officers and the north Belfast UVF unit.
Asked about possible criticism from within his own Protestant community over attending the Sinn Féin conference in Dublin, McCord said: ‘The Democratic Unionist Party are getting paid salaries to sit down with Sinn Féin at Stormont. What I am doing is engaging with the same people, at their conference, without any payment or favour. I have no apology to make about being prepared to do that.’
McCord said he felt it was his duty to speak to Sinn Féin about the collusion issue. ‘I am certainly not going to pull any punches when I deliver my speech. I will tell the delegates something many of them probably already know – that collusion was a two-way street.
‘The security forces had high-profile informers working not only in organisations like the UVF and UDA, but also within the IRA. I know for a fact there are cases where policemen and soldiers died at the hands of IRA informers. They were allowed to die in order to protect the identity of the informants.
‘The DUP in particular says it has the interests of the relatives and loved ones of murdered police officers and soldiers in its heart. But so far they have not raised the issue of those police officers and soldiers that were killed in attacks organised by informers inside the IRA and INLA.
‘So I will use my speech to Sinn Féin to raise the case of those particular victims and ask why those in authority allowed these people to die.’
SAOIRSE32 
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