Sinn Féin demands full disclosure of Stalker/Sampson

Alex Maskey

Speaking after a meeting on Monday morning with the PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott, Sinn Féin Assembly member Alex Maskey called for the full disclosure of the Stalker/Sampson reports to the legal representatives of a number of people killed during RUC shoot-to-kill operations in North Armagh in the 1980s in advance of the inquests into their deaths recommencing.
Maskey said: “It is quite disgraceful that these families have had to wait for decades for Inquests into the murders of their loved ones to be completed. The fact is that the families would not be this far down the road of establishing the truth if it had not been for their own tenacity and that of their legal teams.
“It now seems just as the Coroner John Leckey is about to recommence the Inquests a further dispute of disclosure of Stalker/Sampson has emerged with the PSNI which will result in the PSNI seeking a Judicial Review of the Coroner’s position.
“We made it clear to Matt Baggott today that while this problem is not directly of his making it is his responsibility to resolve it. The resolution lies in the full disclosure of the Stalker/Sampson Reports to both the Coroner and the legal representatives of the families. He needs to avoid any use of Public Interest Immunity Certificates and these Inquests must be allowed to proceed without any further concealment by the PSNI.
“Sinn Féin will continue to support the families in their demand for the truth in the time ahead and continue to lobby to ensure that no further delays are created and that the inquests can proceed on the basis of full disclosure.”

Marshall family must get truth

Sinn Féin MLA John O’Dowd has called for full truth recovery surrounding the events which led up to the murder of Sinn Féin member Sam Marshall 20 years ago on 7 March.  
“The murder of Sam Marshall and the attempted murder of his two companions within yards of the then RUC barracks as they walked home after signing bail are shrouded with unanswered questions,” said O’Dowd. “Many in the community believe that there was direct collusion between Sam Marshall’s killers, the RUC and other elements of the British intelligence agencies.  
“Twenty years have passed since the killing and the Marshall family have yet to receive the answers to the questions they have quite rightly posed about Sam’s murder. It is long past time that these questions were answered.”