28 January 1999 Edition
Scottish police accused of attempted murder
Belfast republican Dan Kelly has told An Phoblacht that Scottish police tried to kill him when they loosened the wheel of his van after they arrested him last Friday. Kelly said it ``was a case of attempted murder''.
After he disembarked from the Stranraer boat Kelly's van was searched and he was held on dock for 50 minutes. This is something which happens every time he travels to the Scottish port. Last year he and his family were detained for three hours for an'' examination''. Dan is taking a case to the European Court of Human Rights regarding this incident.
So, when the police asked Dan to accompany them down to the station for an ``examination'', he inquired if they were arresting him. When they said they were not, he asked if they were detaining him. Again they said they were not, but when Dan refused to go with them they placed him under arrest.
At the station they stripped the van, but eventually released him without charge and he continued on his way. However, as he was leaving the motorway on his way into Glasgow, he noticed a rattling coming from the front of the van. He hadn't heard this rattling before, so he took the van to a mechanic. The mechanic looked at it the next day, and was astonished to find that the nuts of the front right wheel had been deliberately loosened so they were just clinging on with the last thread. The mechanic told Dan this could not have happened by itself, and as he looked at it he knew it had been done recently as there was a fresh mark on the wheel where the hubcap had been prised off.
After he disembarked from the Stranraer boat Kelly's van was searched and he was held on dock for 50 minutes. This is something which happens every time he travels to the Scottish port. Last year he and his family were detained for three hours for an'' examination''. Dan is taking a case to the European Court of Human Rights regarding this incident.
So, when the police asked Dan to accompany them down to the station for an ``examination'', he inquired if they were arresting him. When they said they were not, he asked if they were detaining him. Again they said they were not, but when Dan refused to go with them they placed him under arrest.
At the station they stripped the van, but eventually released him without charge and he continued on his way. However, as he was leaving the motorway on his way into Glasgow, he noticed a rattling coming from the front of the van. He hadn't heard this rattling before, so he took the van to a mechanic. The mechanic looked at it the next day, and was astonished to find that the nuts of the front right wheel had been deliberately loosened so they were just clinging on with the last thread. The mechanic told Dan this could not have happened by itself, and as he looked at it he knew it had been done recently as there was a fresh mark on the wheel where the hubcap had been prised off.