11 December 1997 Edition
RUC use DHSS info in recruitment attempt
by Laura Friel
Melissa McKenna is a young single mother living alone. She became the fifth person in the Lurgan area to be targeted by the RUC Special Branch in recent weeks.
Letters and money have been left at her home in a crude attempt to pressurise her into acting as an informer. Two months ago Melissa was interviewed by the DHSS fraud squad. ``At the time I thought the interview was a little strange. The DHSS officer said I had been investigated but the allegations against me had already been established by the DHSS as untrue. So why was I being interviewed?''
The DHSS officer told Melissa they had suspected she had been working selling insurance but their investigations had revealed it was not the case. ``My sister is employed with an insurance company,'' says Melissa, ``we don't even look alike.''
Melissa was asked if she was cohabiting and then allowed to go. ``I didn't think about it again, ``says Melissa, ``until two weeks later I received a letter through the door.''
The letter had been delivered by hand, it contained a £20 note and a hand written message.
Three weeks later a second letter arrived, this time pushed through an open back window. ``There isn't even easy access to my back garden,'' says Melissa, ``someone must have pushed their way through the hedge.'' The letter, written by the same hand on similar note paper contained another £20.
Melissa has not yet been approached directly by the RUC. ``I want the RUC to stop trying to intimidate and entrap me,'' she says, ``I have contacted my solicitor who has already raised the issue with the DHSS. My message to the RUC is leave me alone.''
Melissa McKenna is a young single mother living alone. She became the fifth person in the Lurgan area to be targeted by the RUC Special Branch in recent weeks.
Letters and money have been left at her home in a crude attempt to pressurise her into acting as an informer. Two months ago Melissa was interviewed by the DHSS fraud squad. ``At the time I thought the interview was a little strange. The DHSS officer said I had been investigated but the allegations against me had already been established by the DHSS as untrue. So why was I being interviewed?''
The DHSS officer told Melissa they had suspected she had been working selling insurance but their investigations had revealed it was not the case. ``My sister is employed with an insurance company,'' says Melissa, ``we don't even look alike.''
Melissa was asked if she was cohabiting and then allowed to go. ``I didn't think about it again, ``says Melissa, ``until two weeks later I received a letter through the door.''
The letter had been delivered by hand, it contained a £20 note and a hand written message.
Three weeks later a second letter arrived, this time pushed through an open back window. ``There isn't even easy access to my back garden,'' says Melissa, ``someone must have pushed their way through the hedge.'' The letter, written by the same hand on similar note paper contained another £20.
Melissa has not yet been approached directly by the RUC. ``I want the RUC to stop trying to intimidate and entrap me,'' she says, ``I have contacted my solicitor who has already raised the issue with the DHSS. My message to the RUC is leave me alone.''