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26/07/2012
Smithwick Evidence Points To New Colluding Garda
The PSNI has been accused of doing a "shameful injustice" to a former garda suspected of collusion by only revealing important evidence now, seven years after a key tribunal started.
The Smithwick Tribunal reviewed five pieces of evidence from PSNI Chief Superintendent Roy McComb yesterday.
Some claimed a previously-unmentioned Garda officer was paid to pass information to the IRA.
The tribunal was established in 2005 to investigate allegations of collusion in the murders of RUC officers Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan, who were shot dead in south Armagh in March 1989.
Up until now, collusion allegations have been focused on three former detective sergeants in Dundalk - Owen Corrigan, Leo Colton and Finbarr Hickey.
The intelligence revealed on Wednesday morning stated that none of those officers were involved in the murders of the two RUC officers, but that another garda had been paid "a considerable amount of finance" for passing information to the IRA regarding the officers.
Mr Corrigan legal counsel criticised the PSNI for "hanging Owen Corrigan out to dry" by revealing an RUC document from 1985 that named his client as someone who had colluded with the IRA, but failing to reveal until now the other intelligence.
The legal representative for the Breen family John McBurney, said: "The newly introduced intelligence raises many concerns and opens up additional lines of enquiry at a very late stage indeed. Urgent work will be needed to unravel the tangled strands now exposed."
(NE)
The Smithwick Tribunal reviewed five pieces of evidence from PSNI Chief Superintendent Roy McComb yesterday.
Some claimed a previously-unmentioned Garda officer was paid to pass information to the IRA.
The tribunal was established in 2005 to investigate allegations of collusion in the murders of RUC officers Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan, who were shot dead in south Armagh in March 1989.
Up until now, collusion allegations have been focused on three former detective sergeants in Dundalk - Owen Corrigan, Leo Colton and Finbarr Hickey.
The intelligence revealed on Wednesday morning stated that none of those officers were involved in the murders of the two RUC officers, but that another garda had been paid "a considerable amount of finance" for passing information to the IRA regarding the officers.
Mr Corrigan legal counsel criticised the PSNI for "hanging Owen Corrigan out to dry" by revealing an RUC document from 1985 that named his client as someone who had colluded with the IRA, but failing to reveal until now the other intelligence.
The legal representative for the Breen family John McBurney, said: "The newly introduced intelligence raises many concerns and opens up additional lines of enquiry at a very late stage indeed. Urgent work will be needed to unravel the tangled strands now exposed."
(NE)
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Northern Ireland WeatherToday:Some low cloud lingering in the north and west through the day, although cloud should burn back to the coast as the day goes on. Elsewhere some good sunny spells with very little cloud. Warm with light winds. Maximum temperature 22 °C.Tonight:A sunny evening for most except where cloud lingers along the north coast. Cloud will increase for a lot of areas overnight with mist and fog patches developing. Minimum temperature 7 °C.
