Boutcher: Paramilitary displays will be removed
Connla Young, Crime and Security Correspondent, Irish News, March 11th, 2025
PSNI seeks additional powers to target paramilitary displays
CHIEF Constable Jon Boutcher has revealed ground-breaking plans to remove paramilitary “displays” – likely to include murals and flags.
He confirmed that he has been in contact with the British government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, about the move.
The development emerged during a meeting of the Policing Board. Mr Boutcher said police have already developed “operational guidance” which has resulted in a “significant number” of anti-immigration displays being removed. He confirmed he is now set to target paramilitary displays.
In the past police have come in for criticism over their approach to dealing with displays that glorify paramilitary groups, particularly in loyalist areas.
While contentious paramilitary-linked murals have reduced in nationalist districts since the peace process began, images of armed men and other paramilitary displays are common in some loyalist areas.
Every year thousands of flags are put up in loyalist and mixed districts paying tribute to loyalist paramilitary groups, including the UVF and UDA. Paramilitary flags are also often on display during loyalist band parades across the north every summer.
Removed racist signs
Speaking at last week’s board meeting, Mr Boutcher said “new operational guidance has been developed which has resulted in a significant number of anti-immigration displays being removed without adverse response”.
“Further to that we have engaged with the reviewer of counter terrorism, Jonathan Hall, in relation to seeking additional legislative powers to help remove such material and material from proscribed organisations.”
Mr Boutcher said the PSNI is “consulting regularly on these issues with the Department of Justice with regards to reforming legislation to give us more powers to deal with these things”.
Until recently direct police intervention was rare. Last September racist posters targeting Muslims in the Rathcoole estate, on the outskirts of north Belfast, were removed by police.
Around the same time the service faced questions over why officers removed racist signage in Moygashel, Co Tyrone, but ignored sectarian banners glorifying the UVF located nearby.
At the time former Aontú and SDLP councillor Denise Mullen, whose father Denis was shot dead by the UVF in 1975, highlighted different approach adopted by police.
In May 2023 officers from the PSNI’s Terrorism Investigation Unit removed ‘IRA’ signs from the Creggan estate in Derry.
Alliance welcome for move
Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw, who has a private member’s bill which seeks to address the issue, said: “I welcome the change in the PSNI’s approach to removing hate displays in public by introducing new guidance, and would also welcome clarity from the PSNI on whether an amendment to either section 12 or 13 of the Terrorism Act would be beneficial to law enforcement, allowing for the seizure of any article on reasonable suspicion that it has been displayed in support of a proscribed organisation,
“I have written to the secretary of state in support of such an amendment, as it would remove any doubt that emblems of proscribed organisations, most obviously paramilitary groups, have no place on public property and must be removed immediately.
“We cannot allow another generation to be condemned to growing up in communities defined by paramilitarism and gangsterism. It is time for clear action.
“We welcome any moves from the chief constable to take that action, and we will continue to seek any legislative routes to ensure the rule of law applies equally across all communities.
Relatives of Troubles victims call for Truth Commission at Stormont event
By Iain Gray, Belfast News Letter, March 10th, 2025
Grieving relatives of people who lost their lives to terrorist violence during the Troubles have made a call for a truth commission that could reveal the real stories of what happened to their loved ones.
Several speakers at a Stormont event on Monday wanted the truth about what happened to their families to come out, from the cousin of a soldier killed in an IRA honeytrap 54 years ago to the day, to the daughter of an RUC man murdered in the 1970s.
The event, hosted by TUV MLA Timothy Gaston to mark the European Day for Victims of Terrorism, brought together people united by the grief of the tragedies that befell them during the dark days of the Troubles.
For the families, the decades since their loved ones’ deaths haven’t brought peace to their lives, and the fact that so many of the perpetrators never faced justice or were even held accountable still rankles.
That included Pamela Wilson, who lost her RUC officer father David Dorsett to an IRA bomb in January 1973. His death “ripped through our lives as much as any bomb or bullet”, she told an assembled crowd of politicians, and the family believes it contributed to the early deaths of her mother and brother, the latter of whom followed his father into the police only to pass away from a heart attack aged in his 40s.
Sgt Dorsett’s death means that his youngest daughter Julie, an infant at the time of his murder, has no memories of her father, said Pamela.
“Things were also tough financially,” she said. “Dad had been the only wage-earner, and while Mum received a small widow’s pension, pre-1982 widows received very little compensation for the loss of their husbands.
Teenage Scottish Soldiers killed
Among the most infamous killings of the early years of the Troubles were the murders of three off-duty soldiers from Scotland, two of them teenage brothers, who were lured from a Belfast pub by women who promised them a party only to be captured by IRA men and shot on a north Belfast hill.
The incident happened on March 10, 1971 – meaning the Stormont victims event took place 54 years to the day since the murders.
David McCaughey, whose cousin Dougald McCaughey was one of the soldiers, remembered the shock and confusion devastating the family.
“Two mothers died that day, their hearts were broken,” he said, adding that his cousin’s murder left “a scar that has never healed and will never heal”.
Adding that at this point relatives have largely accepted the perpetrators will never see justice, Mr McCaughey stated that now grieving families “just want the truth” and for the killers to be named.
“All people want is the truth; it’s not too much to ask for, is it?” he said.
Caroline D’Eath, whose father Gerald was killed by a UVF bomb left on a building site he was working on in 1975, expressed a similar view.
“Everyone just wants truth and justice,” she said, adding that investigations that have taken place have left the family with “more questions than answers”.
And she stated that the controversial Legacy Act, which shut down Troubles-era inquests and created a new body to look into cases, wasn’t something she or many other relatives could support, saying that it’s not the “proper form” of investigating Northern Ireland’s past.
In addition, pre-recorded video testimony was heard from Colette Murray, whose brother Cyril was murdered by loyalists in a sectarian killing.
Speaking after the event, Kenny Donaldson of victims’ group the South East Fermanagh Foundation told the News Letter that relatives have been “conditioned to believe that justice isn’t possible”.
“The term that overrides everything is accountability, and truth comes with that as a prerequisite,” he said.
“Whilst it won’t mean people being put in prison, at this stage we know opportunities for that are very limited, accountability is attainable and must be delivered.”
Mr Gaston said he was “humbled and privileged” to host the event, carrying on a tradition started by his predecessor as North Antrim MLA, Jim Allister, adding it was “a welcome corrective to attempts to airbrush victims from the record.”
Stakeknife more than one person says lawyer
Connla Young, Crime and Security Correspondent, Irish News, March 11th, 2025
A LAWYER for 21 Troubles victims’ relatives has suggested Stakeknife is not a single IRA member.
Concerns have emerged over the true status of the British agent after Operation Kenova chief Sir Iain Livingstone wrote to relatives of the dead over delays in providing them family reports.
West Belfast man Freddie Scappaticci, a former commander of the IRA’s ‘internal security unit’, was named as Stakeknife in 2003. Also known as the ‘nutting squad’, it was responsible for hunting down and killing informers.
While it was previously known that Scappaticci worked for the British army’s Force Research Unit (FRU), documents withheld by MI5 until recently confirm he was instructed by that agency via his military handlers.
In a new book, veteran Troubles journalist Martin Dillon suggested Stakeknife was a “British intelligence project” rather than an individual.
Some bereaved relatives also believe this may be the case, although it has been denied by Kenova, which was set up in 2016 and produced an interim report on Stakeknife’s activities last March.
In a letter to Sir Iain last week, solicitor Kevin Winters of KRW Law, who represents 21 families linked to the Kenova investigation, highlighted his concerns. He said the term Stakeknife was first used by the media in 1999 and it is his understanding it “has no formal security force or intelligence services origin and there is no security classification or authorisation” for its use.
He also says there is evidence to suggest the most “highly placed agent inside PIRA ISU [internal security unit] was previously known to the security forces and intelligence services” by a different codename, although he points out that a former Stakeknife handler previously used the codename.
Mr Winters believes the term’s “industrial use… has served to distort and confuse”.
“The phrase has become synonymous with the figure formerly presenting as the most senior intelligence asset working inside PIRA ISU in the period 1979–1994,” he said.
Stakeknife label misleading
“This is entirely misleading because it has served to upscale Scappaticci’s status as both the apex and entirety of British military intelligence penetration of PIRA ISU during this period.”
Mr Winters said last year’s Operation Kenova interim report suggested that “many other agents” operated inside the ISU.
“On any reading, these findings clearly point to a much wider systemic state penetration of the ISU and in turn the existence of many other agents either directly or indirectly linked to PIRA ISU,” he wrote.
“For some time now there has been speculation that ‘Stakeknife’ is or was Fred Scappaticci… clearly he was but one of a number of such agents.
“He was not the only one.” Mr Winters suggests the Operation Kenova terms of reference were “Stakeknife-centric”.
“If the starting and indeed finishing point is that Freddie Scappaticci was the agent ‘Stakeknife’ then that is equally misleading,” he said.
The lawyer added that “post release of the interim report and taking a holistic view it is difficult to maintain a position that the term ‘Stakeknife’ could be synonymous with one person only”.
“The industrial misuse of the term has served to project the entirety of state PIRA ISU penetration onto one person.
“That runs counter to any suggestion that such penetration was systemic involving the use of a significant number of other agents many of whom were likely to have been more highly placed than Fred Scappaticci.”
Caroline Moreland case
Mr Winters also highlights ongoing legal action linked to the IRA killing of informer Caroline Moreland just weeks before the 1994 ceasefire.
Operation Kenova, which was previously led by PSNI chief constable Jon Boutcher, has confirmed Stakeknife was not involved in Ms Moreland’s murder.
Speaking to The Irish News, Mr Winters said serious questions hang over the Stakeknife affair.
“As time has moved on following the interim report and recent litigation we don’t see how Stakeknife can be outed as one person to the exclusion of all other agents,” he said.
Freddie Scappaticci is widely believed to have been Stakeknife, a British army agent within the IRA
For some time now there has been speculation that ‘Stakeknife’ is or was Fred Scappaticci… clearly he was but one of a number of such agents. He was not the only one
“There’s no security force classification on that term. Families of victims expect to see the precise security force classification of that term.”
Mr Winters said he has asked Sir Iain to “explain the origin of the moniker Stakeknife”.
“It’s possibly an intelligence based media invention conveniently deployed to fixate all attention onto only one agent,” he said.
“We have requested Iain Livingstone to give us assurances on wider context and issues raised.
“The alleged Stakeknife agent Freddie Scappaticci was gone from ISU as early as 1990 yet many other killings happened after then, some of which were preventable.
“These issues and more need included in any Stakeknife exposition.”
A spokesman for Operation Kenova referred to a previous statement from the body stating “the interim report makes clear Kenova established Stakeknife was an individual”.
“The final report is still to be published, so it would be inappropriate to comment further on the points raised until that point,” he added.
Meanwhile, in a letter to Stakeknife relatives, Sir Iain confirmed that MI5 has agreed to allow the release of some private family reports.
The Operation Kenova chief wrote to loved ones last week to highlight his frustration over delays in providing reports.
Kenova stands over Stakeknife claim
He confirmed security checking has been delayed by British government officials until a decision is made about naming Stakeknife, which has not taken place due to its ‘neither confirm nor deny’ policy.
Members of the Kenova team met the British government recently “to discuss the possibility of proceeding with family reports without revealing Stakeknife’s identity”.
In a letter to relatives, Sir Iain says he has suggested to officials “that the family reports should be security checked on the assumption that Stakeknife would not be named”.
He added that if this position changes, family reports can then be updated.
Sir Iain said he also offered to brief ministers to ensure they “had a full understanding of Kenova’s position and why in this case we believe there should be a departure from the neither confirm and deny policy so that Stakeknife can be named”.
“Colleagues in the Kenova team have now met with MI5 and have agreed that some family reports can be released within the next few weeks, with the remaining family reports planned to be security checked and cleared for release by the end of April,” Sir Iain wrote.
TUV leader urges action on ‘up the Ra’ chanting
Claudia Savage, Irish News, March 11th, 2025
JIM Allister has urged the government to tackle the “glorification of terrorism” of people singing “the Republican mantra, up the Ra”.
The TUV leader welcomed that the government’s crime and policing bill would “for the first time” make it an offence to “have a banner which glorifies a proscribed organisation”.
He spoke in the Commons during the second reading of the bill which includes a range of measures from tackling knife crime to antisocial behaviour.
Mr Allister referred specifically to clause 123, which would enable the seizure of a flag or poster which “arouses reasonable suspicion the individual who displayed it was a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation”.
The MP for North Antrim said: “We have hidden away something which will be of particular interest to many in Northern Ireland.
“For the first time this clause will make it an offence to put on a lamp post or have a banner which glorifies a proscribed organisation.
“That’s a good thing, that’s necessary. I do welcome the fact that that is the intent.”
He added: “But that then focuses attention on the disparity of the failure of this bill to deal with the inadequacy of the offence of glorification of terrorism, which is too limp and largely unused.
“So we now arrive at a situation where you couldn’t legally put a banner up that says, to use the Republican mantra, ‘up the Ra’ – which means up the IRA, that organisation that murdered thousands of our citizens – you couldn’t under this bill put that up on a lamp post as a banner, and that’s good, but you can say it, under glorification of terrorism.
“So that hideous, horrible Republican mantra ‘up the Ra’, which is a chorus from a republican song which glorifies terrorism, which says lyrics like ‘the Brits will never leave until they’re blown away’, ‘Oh, ah, up the Ra, SAM missiles in the sky’.
“That’s glorification of terrorism, of course it is. But yet, under our legislation, that is not defined as glorification of terrorism because you have to be advocating that which would emulate and encourage others to engage in terrorism.”
TUV leader Jim Allister was commenting in the Commons on the new crime and policing bill
“ So that hideous, horrible Republican mantra ‘up the Ra’, which is a chorus from a republican song which glorifies terrorism, which says lyrics like ‘the Brits will never leave until they’re blown away’, ‘Oh, ah, up the Ra, SAM missiles in the sky’. That’s glorification of terrorism
He added: “If you take what’s in (clause) 123 and make the offence that which promotes the interest of a proscribed organisation, then you have done the right thing, but you need to transfer it across into the glorification of terrorism.
“Why should it be right to be illegal to have a banner that says up the Ra, but to address thousands of kids through a song, as happens every August in Northern Ireland, and sing up the Ra? That needs to be reconciled and dealt with.”
Troubles bereaved share their stories of loss at Stormont
Alan Preston, Irish News, March 11th, 2025
FAMILIES of some of those killed during the Troubles shared their stories at Stormont yesterday, marking European Day for Victims of Terrorism.
Among those remembered were three off-duty Scottish soldiers shot dead by the Provisional IRA in Belfast 54 years ago.
Royal Highland Fusiliers Dougald McCaughey (23) and brothers John and Joseph McCaig (aged 17 and 18) had been drinking in a city-centre pub when they were lured to a remote location, and were later found shot dead in the Ligoniel area of north Belfast.
Relative David McCaughey said his family still wanted answers and it remained a “scar that has never healed and never will,” the BBC reported.
Also attending the event was Caroline D’Eath, whose father Gerald D’Eath (31) was killed by a UVF bomb in 1975 as he worked on a building site for a new Christian Brothers school in Glengormley.
Leaving behind a wife and three young daughters, Ms D’Eath was only four years old at the time and has no memories of her father.
“In that moment our lives changed for ever – these people took away my father and a beloved husband,” she said. “He never got to see any of us grow into the women we are today, he never got to walk any of us down the aisle.
“The government’s legacy act serves no purpose, the aftermath is still very traumatic. Everyone just wants truth and justice, they want the future to change.”
She said her mother died nine years ago and that 50 years on, the unanswered questions “rub salt in our wounds even more that no one may ever be brought to justice”.
The event was organised by the TUV MLA Timothy Gaston, who said: “The senate chamber was filled beyond capacity by innocent victims from the length and breadth of Northern Ireland.”
He criticised Sinn Féin’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill for her previous remarks that she believed there was “no alternative” to the Provisional IRA’s armed campaign.
Sisters slam Sinn Fein for 'glorifying' IRA killers after McFarlane tribute
Abdullah Sabri, Belfast Telegraph, March 11th, 2023
RELATIVES GATHER AT STORMONT TO MARK DAY FOR VICTIMS OF TERRORISM EVENT
Sinn Fein is more concerned with glorifying murderers such as Brendan McFarlane than representing the IRA's man's innocent victims, it's been claimed.
Anne Hill and Karen Moreland lost their sister, Linda Boyle, in the IRA bombing of the Bayardo bar on the Shankill Road in August 1974, which “ruined” their family.
They were among those gathered at Stormont yesterday to tell their stories to mark European Day for Victims of Terrorism.
Representatives from the majority of the Assembly's elected parties also attended the event that has been held annually since the Madrid bombings of 2004.
Speaking after the event, Ms Hill and Ms Moreland hit out at Sinn Fein's “glorification” of IRA killers.
Their 17-year-old sister Linda succumbed to her wounds a week after a bomb went off at the Bayardo in the Shankill area, where four others also lost their lives.
Three were sentenced to life imprisonment, including Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane who passed away last month.
He was praised by Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald as “a great patriot” who would “inspire generations to come”.
Mrs Moreland described the tributes to McFarlane as “glorifying a murderer who took an innocent life.”
Ms Hill, who was 15 when her sister was killed, said: “I think a patriot is somebody who you have to live up to.”
She added: “If you unmask him, he's just a murderer — you can't class him as a patriot.”
Mrs Moreland criticised Sinn Fein, which did not send a representative to the event, as “not representing the victims”.
“It just shows you what they think of the normal people. The ordinary people of Northern Ireland. They don't want to represent us,” Mrs Moreland added.
Speaking at the event was Caroline D'Eath whose father, Gerald, was killed in a UVF bombing in north Belfast in May 1975.
Mr D'Eath was another innocent victim of the conflict, killed while working as a bricklayer on a new Christian Brothers school in the Glengormley area.
The Co Tyrone man left behind three children and his wife who was forced to take on three jobs to support her family.
Mrs D'Eath said: “My father was an innocent victim and there's a story to tell. I think it's a powerful story because he went out to do a day's work to earn money for his family. My mother was left to raise us alone.”
Mrs D'Eath said those who lost their lives “need their story to be told”.
“I just think it's good that there's different stories here today and from across all backgrounds and everyone has a story, no matter what religion they're from,” she said.
She added: “I've never known my father and I have no memories of him. I don't know what his personality was like and that was all taken away from me.”
Hosting the event was TUV MLA Timothy Gaston who called it “a reminder of what innocent people suffered”.
“Today's event was a welcome corrective to the attempt to airbrush victims from the record and a reminder of what innocent people suffered,” he said.
“At a time when the self-styled First Minister for all claims that there was 'no alternative' to such actions the need to mark victims' day has never been greater.”
UUP MLA Mike Nesbitt was among the MLAs present and stressed the significance of remembering the stories of the victims and their families.
The UUP leader said: “It's important because we must never forget.
“And their story isn't about what happened to them 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago. It's a story about the legacy of that that they have to live with every single day.”
When asked if he would like to see Sinn Fein at future events, the Strangford MLA said: “I think there are clearly issues with people who have been hurt, engaging with the people who supported those who hurt them.”
Son of prison officer shot dead by IRA writes book
Irish News, March 11th, 2025
THE son of a Portlaoise prison officer shot dead by the IRA has launched a new book in memory of his father.
Brian Stack was left paralysed and brain-damaged after being shot in March 1983 as he crossed a Dublin Street after attending a boxing contest. He died 18 months later.
Mr Stack was the only Irish prison officer killed during the Troubles.
His son Austin Stack, who has continued to highlight his father’s case, has written a new book titled Justice For My Father.
Mr Stack believes his father was singled out because he frustrated attempts by republicans to escape from Portlaoise Prison in Co Laois and revealed how he met former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams.
He said he is still seeking justice for his father. He told the BBC: “Justice for me means somebody actually saying ‘we did this’.
“I’d like to meet the person. What I’d say to them is ‘why did you do this, what was in your head’?
“For me that would be a sense of closure.”
Reflections of Revolutionary or Art Movie?
Malachi O’Doherty in Belfast Telegraph, March 11th, 2025
Because of the confusion around former IRA man Hughes's names, his past is not easy to research... which likely suits him
If you Google the name Brendan Hughes you will hit only confusions.
There were two of them in senior positions in the IRA.
One was 'Darkie' Hughes, who led D Company (nicknamed 'The Dogs') in the lower Falls; the other is the former East Tyrone IRA leader, who featured in a Spotlight double feature last week, telling his stories about jail breaks and bank robberies.
The Belfast Brendan Hughes led the 1980 hunger strike in the Maze prison and called it off, without a firm settlement, to save one of his men who was close to death.
After that failure, Bobby Sands called the 1981 strike, knowing that he was likely to die, which he did.
Two weeks ago, the leader of that protest, Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane, died and was buried by his comrades.
McFarlane had volunteered to join the hunger strike himself, but I understand that he was turned down because his conviction was for sectarian murder and it was feared he might not get the same sympathy as Sands, who had only bombed a furniture shop, or, say, Francis Hughes, who was spoken of as a brave guerrilla soldier.
Google Francis Hughes and you will come up against the same difficulty. The other Francis Hughes was that same Brendan Hughes convicted of bank robberies in the mid-Seventies and shooting at Garda Brendan Keys.
This Francis or Brendan Hughes is happy with the confusion created by his names. He has said in a recent book that the name by which he was charged for his various offences, Francis Bernard Hughes, is wrong. He's 'Brendan' — though in prison he was 'Barney'.
Because of the confusion of Brendan Hughes's names, his past is not easy to research. But I was able to trace the main elements of the story he told Spotlight by searching the newspaper archives for Francis Bernard Hughes.
There I found reports which also confused him with the Belfast Brendan Hughes. I also learnt of another name he had — John Patrick Murtagh.
Amazing Story
The Spotlight programme, titled Those Who Want Me Dead, was billed erroneously as an 'extensive interview'. It was nothing of the kind. It was one man telling his story without being challenged.
And it was an amazing story.
Hughes was convicted of conspiracy to help three senior IRA men to escape from Mountjoy Prison in 1973. He got three years for that. It was an extraordinarily lenient sentence.
Sent to Portlaoise Prison, he bombed his way out of there with 18 other prisoners.
Then he robbed a bank during the 1975 ceasefire, for which he was drummed out of the IRA.
He says the IRA sentenced him to death.
After that he formed his own bank robbing gang, robbed a hotel too and was finally arrested in 1976 and sentenced to 20 years for, among other things, shooting at a Garda Síochána officer, Brendan Keys.
All of this is remarkable stuff that many journalists would have been thrilled to get access to.
Hughes wrote his own book, Up Like A Bird, with the help of Douglas Dalby, who also helped make the Spotlight film.
But instead of scrutinising Hughes, the two-part film seemed to just illustrate the man's nostalgia. It was moved along by dolorous music and atmospheric photography, much of it of the inside of Gloucester jail.
Changing Story
The news line that came out of the film was that Hughes says now that the IRA campaign was a waste and that putting as much effort in to the civil rights campaign would have achieved as much. It was not worth killing one person for.
In his introduction to Hughes's book, Douglas Dalby says: “I cannot claim journalistic rigour.”
The book and the film are just one man's story. But that story changes between the book and the film. In the former, Hughes says not that it was all a waste, for which no one should have died, but that “I would do the same again. I was defending my community.”
In the film, he says that the realisation that he had traumatised decent people came after the IRA sentenced him to death. He says he would never have shot anyone for money. Yet it was after this that he set out on his career as a gangster and shot at officer Keys.
The dilemma for Spotlight, I presume, was that it had access to this amazing material which undoubtedly fills in gaps in our known history of the IRA. But telling the story in the usual punchy and pacy Spotlight format would have come across like a true crime thriller.
Even if we take Hughes at his word now, that he thinks the IRA campaign was a waste, that in itself is not a great news angle when others before him have said this already — people such as Tommy Gorman and Anthony McIntyre, who were in the IRA for a lot longer than Hughes was.
So Spotlight just took the man at his word and made an art movie.
