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1 December 2013 Edition

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Weapon came from MI5/British Army agent Brian Nelson

Inquest into UVF murder of pensioner Roseanne Mallon

• British Army agent Brian Nelson and Roseanne Mallon was murdered by the UVF in 1994

The RUC at the time of the murder of Roseanne stated that the weapon had no previous use at all. We now know that to be a deliberate lie. The question is why?

THE weapon used by the UVF to murder Roseanne Mallon and injure Bridget Mallon on 8 May 1994 was part of a consignment of weapons imported to Ireland in December 1987 by MI5/British Army agent Brian Nelson and distributed to loyalists.

This weapon was also used in an attack at Boyle’s Bar, Cappagh, County Tyrone, killing Thomas Armstrong, Malcolm Nugent, Dwayne O’Donnell, and John Quinn. Others were also injured in that attack. It was also used to murder Tommy and Teresa Fox at their home in Moy, County Tyrone.

The RUC at the time of the murder of Roseanne stated that the weapon had no previous use at all. We now know that to be a deliberate lie. The question is why?

A car, similar to one of two cars reported to be acting suspiciously outside the Mallon home, was stopped by a regular patrol shortly after the murder.

Three men threw balaclavas and gloves from the car. The home of the driver was searched and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition and a gun were also found. All three were ruled out of inquiries within hours.

A Peugeot car containing Billy Wright and two other suspects was stopped in the Portadown area and all three taken to Gough Barracks for questioning.

Their clothes were taken for forensic examination but they too were ruled out of inquiries within hours despite the fact that the forensic results were not yet completed.

The most senior Special Branch officer for that region, Frank Murray, had contacted the head of CID for the region, DCI McBurney, telling him that there was a covert operation in place at the time of the attack but there was nothing of evidential value or significance from the operation.

The actual murder investigation team on the ground was not made aware of any covert operation until local people accidentally discovered secret cameras eight weeks after the attack.

A Special Branch officer (known as P5) said that he had only received the tapes for the day of the murder two days after the killing and it took several more days to analyse the tapes and write up the reports.

So how was Murray able to say there was nothing of an evidential value when the recordings were not yet viewed? The Coroner also found that strange.

These particular tapes have been destroyed, along with notebooks of Special Branch officers. And nobody who knows or can answer those questions is available to the court due to death or reported illness.

So the bottom line is that within hours the murder weapon is deliberately lied about, the suspects are ruled out despite forensics not being available, and the tapes covered nothing on the day prior to the attack even though the tape recordings had not been viewed.

Coincidence or collusion – you decide.

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