Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Chapter 5 Cont'd...
Taken from pages 108/109:
"But the refusal of the RUC in Belfast to cooperate did not deter the Gardai.The identification of Mulholland from file photographs was a significant breakthrough.According to a former high-ranking garda officer (now retired) ,Mulholland, shortly after his release from RUC custody, was approached by RUC Detective Inspector Frank Murray, who was based in Lurgan.Murray, a Catholic, was a close friend of the Gardai and visited Garda headquarters in Dublin regulalrly.At the request of the Gardai Murray persuaded Mulholland, due to the overwhelming evidence against him from witnesses in Parnell Street and the threat of extradition, to turn informer on the bombings.A short time later a similar approach was made to Hanna - after Mulholland named him as the leader of the gang - and he too agreed to cooperate.In return for their 'full and frank' cooperation both men were offered immunity from prosecution.The deal was worked out by Ned Garvey in Garda headquarters with Frank Murray acting as go-between, but it did not have official RUC approval and was merely a personal thing between Murray and Garvey.Because of the great sensitivity surrounding the deal, Garvey, who was effectively running the investigation from his office in the Phoenix Park, did not inform his boss, Commissioner Patrick Malone.Malone was a weak leader and during his term of office effectively did what Garvey instructed him to do.During an interview with my (Joe speaking here) colleague Glen Midleton from Yorkshire Television in 1992, Malone admitted that Garvey ran the bombing investigation and that he knew little of what was happening in it."
Tierney writes on page 110 that "By the end of July the Gardai had pieced together 95 per cent of the entire operation" but that "apart from Mulholland the evidence against the remaing suspects was unproveable.They had been fingered by loyalist colleagues who were not prepared to go to court to give evidence against them.And there was no forensic evidence against any of them." Tierney details how Hanna and Mulholland "paid a heavy price for their cooperation with the Gardai".According to Tierney, on Sunday night, 27 July 1975, thirteen months after the bombings, Hanna was shot dead by Robin Jackson who was accompanied by Harris Boyle, Wesley Somerville and Stewart Young, another senior Portadown UVF man.Tierney writes that:
"it is believed by loyalists now in mid-Ulster that Hanna's murder was set up by the army, who found out about the contacts with Murray and hence the Gardai but who decided to conceal the truth from Jackson, in case Jackson decided to follow suit and also start informing."
24 hours after Hanna's death, Mulholland and his family fled to Chester in England where they've lived ever since.In 1993 following the Yorkshire teevision programme on the bombings, Mulholland was interviewed by the Gardai but flatly denied involvement and was released. (from page 111)
"But the refusal of the RUC in Belfast to cooperate did not deter the Gardai.The identification of Mulholland from file photographs was a significant breakthrough.According to a former high-ranking garda officer (now retired) ,Mulholland, shortly after his release from RUC custody, was approached by RUC Detective Inspector Frank Murray, who was based in Lurgan.Murray, a Catholic, was a close friend of the Gardai and visited Garda headquarters in Dublin regulalrly.At the request of the Gardai Murray persuaded Mulholland, due to the overwhelming evidence against him from witnesses in Parnell Street and the threat of extradition, to turn informer on the bombings.A short time later a similar approach was made to Hanna - after Mulholland named him as the leader of the gang - and he too agreed to cooperate.In return for their 'full and frank' cooperation both men were offered immunity from prosecution.The deal was worked out by Ned Garvey in Garda headquarters with Frank Murray acting as go-between, but it did not have official RUC approval and was merely a personal thing between Murray and Garvey.Because of the great sensitivity surrounding the deal, Garvey, who was effectively running the investigation from his office in the Phoenix Park, did not inform his boss, Commissioner Patrick Malone.Malone was a weak leader and during his term of office effectively did what Garvey instructed him to do.During an interview with my (Joe speaking here) colleague Glen Midleton from Yorkshire Television in 1992, Malone admitted that Garvey ran the bombing investigation and that he knew little of what was happening in it."
Tierney writes on page 110 that "By the end of July the Gardai had pieced together 95 per cent of the entire operation" but that "apart from Mulholland the evidence against the remaing suspects was unproveable.They had been fingered by loyalist colleagues who were not prepared to go to court to give evidence against them.And there was no forensic evidence against any of them." Tierney details how Hanna and Mulholland "paid a heavy price for their cooperation with the Gardai".According to Tierney, on Sunday night, 27 July 1975, thirteen months after the bombings, Hanna was shot dead by Robin Jackson who was accompanied by Harris Boyle, Wesley Somerville and Stewart Young, another senior Portadown UVF man.Tierney writes that:
"it is believed by loyalists now in mid-Ulster that Hanna's murder was set up by the army, who found out about the contacts with Murray and hence the Gardai but who decided to conceal the truth from Jackson, in case Jackson decided to follow suit and also start informing."
24 hours after Hanna's death, Mulholland and his family fled to Chester in England where they've lived ever since.In 1993 following the Yorkshire teevision programme on the bombings, Mulholland was interviewed by the Gardai but flatly denied involvement and was released. (from page 111)
# posted by United Irelander @ 3:50 AM 
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