9 September 1999 Edition

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Flanagan covers up collusion

THE RUC has again come under fire over allegations of collusion in a sectarian killing five years ago. Typically, RUC Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan has seen fit to do all in his power to stop the truth coming out.

The latest controversy has arisen after the inquest into the sectarian killing of Paul Thompson was adjourned on Wednesday, 1 September, for the third time.

Thompson was sitting in a taxi on 27 April 1994 in Springfield Park when the UDA shot and killed him. The taxi driver, Patrick Elley, was wounded in the attack.

The inquest was adjourned after an application was made by Angela Ritchie of solicitors Madden and Finucane, representing the Thompson family. Ritchie told the hearing that the family was considering undertaking a judicial review after Ronnie Flanagan choose to withhold information relevant to the circumstances surrounding the murder. The basis for this is a British Home Office circular published after the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence in England. Ritchie argued that the circular about deaths in police custody could be applied to the Thompson case because of the allegations that his death happened after the RUC failed to carry out their duty when contacted by residents about a hole in the peaceline.

On the day of the shooting, local residents in Springfield Park saw a group of what they thought were workmen coming from the loyalist Springmartin estate and working at the fence separating the two areas.

Residents became suspicious and later found that a hole had been cut in the fence.

Brenda Murphy, who was head of the local residents group at the time, telephoned the RUC and spoke to a Sergeant Sheldon, who assured her that something would be done and that she should not worry. She also phoned the SDLP and the NIO.

By 6pm she was concerned that nothing had been done and that she had not heard anything from the RUC. She began distributing leaflets around the doors, warning residents about the hole in the fence and to be vigilant as a number of attacks had been launched in the past over the fence.

At around 11pm that night one man, Paul Thompson, lay dead and another injured after loyalists climbed through the hole in the fence and opened fire on a taxi.

The RUC's actions on arrival at the scene caused great anger among the nationalist community after the RUC refused to pursue the loyalists and also refused to give First Aid to the dying Paul Thompson.

What has also come to light since the killing, and further implicates the RUC, is that during the previous week the RUC were chasing loyalists and found a radio scanner which was set to monitor radio messages at Bell Taxis, the firm for which the wounded taxi driver was working at the time. What has caused outrage is that the RUC failed to notify the taxi firm that their radio messages were being monitored by loyalists.

Complaints were made to the Police Complaints Commission and it is now known that two RUC officers were reprimanded with regard to this case. However, Ronnie Flanagan is refusing to release any information about what exactly the RUC officers were reprimanded for and what disciplinary procedures they faced.

Without such information, the family will never know the full role that the RUC played in the murder.

The fact is that the inquest cannot force Flanagan to reveal this information. The inquest itself can only declare how Paul Thompson was killed and who killed him. It will not examine the circumstances surrounding and the build-up to his death. The family do not merely want a coroner's report - they want to know why their loved one died and they also want to know the full role played by the RUC in the murder.

None of the information about the RUC's knowledge that loyalists were monitoring Bell Taxis will emerge at the inquest. Neither will questions be answered as to why the RUC would not pursue the loyalists, why they would not give First Aid when they arrived on the scene, and why they did not respond to numerous calls about the hole in the fence.

This is why the family and their legal team have taken the step of considering an application for a judicial review. Their hope is that this will force Ronnie Flanagan to release the relevant information, particularly with regard to the disciplinary procedures taken against his officers.

It appears that it may be only through a judicial review that all of the facts become public knowledge and the full extent of the RUC's role in the murder, which has been described as negligent at the most innocent level and collusion at worst, will come out.


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