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3 June 1999 Edition

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Why was Diarmuid O'Neill killed?

BY FERN LANE

The surveillance tape transcript reveals a straight-forward shoot-to-kill operation, but because of the British refusal to acknowledge the war, the Metropolitan Police have been obliged to continue to claim that `Kilo' - the officer who fired the fatal shots - believed his life to be in danger when he killed Diarmuid. However, the tape manifestly contradicts this claim.
 
Why was Diarmuid O'Neill killed? Because, so the argument goes, he was an IRA volunteer, this was war and he made himself a legitimate target. This argument, however, is fatally undermined by the British government's perverse insistence that the conflict in Ireland was not war, merely crime. As a consequence, the Metropolitan Police have had to resort to manipulating the law, lying, and covering their tracks.

The surveillance tape transcript reveals a straight-forward shoot-to-kill operation, but because of the British refusal to acknowledge the war, the Metropolitan Police have been obliged to continue to claim that `Kilo' - the officer who fired the fatal shots - believed his life to be in danger when he killed Diarmuid. However, the tape manifestly contradicts this claim. The men had clearly surrendered, and Diarmuid was struggling to open a door which had been damaged by the police attempting to batter it down.

As can be seen from the transcript, at no time was either his demeanour or his language threatening in any way. It also does not explain why, after Diarmuid had been hit by the initial burst of gunfire, Officer `Kilo' was ordered by another officer to ``shoot the fuckers'', an order which he duly obeyed, hitting Diarmuid a total of six times.

But even if we were to accept, for argument's sake, the implausible excuse that `Kilo' feared for his life, there are other serious discrepancies for which no explanation at all has been offered. During the trial of Pat Kelly and Brian McHugh, who were with Diarmuid, the court heard that hundreds of MI5 operatives where involved in a six-week surveillance operation of the men but no attempt had been made to detain them. The intensity of the surveillance leaves little question that if there was enough evidence against them to go in with CS gas and automatic weapons in the early hours of 23 September 1996, there was also sufficient evidence to arrest them for some time prior to that.

Added to this is the fact that Diarmuid was an active member of his local community in Hammersmith, London, a member of the Trades Unions Council and other community groups. He was visible. He could very easily have been arrested for questioning at any time over a period of several weeks. He wasn't. The decision was made to use force instead.

Officer Kilo's excuse does not explain why, to the anger and dismay of the medical staff who attempted to treat him when he finally arrived at hospital, there was the imprint of a boot on Diarmuid's face. As he lay dying on the floor, a police officer had seen fit to stand on his face.

Why? Did Kilo still believe his life was in danger? And why was no ambulance called? Indeed the police prevented members of the public woken by the noise from calling one for some 30 minutes.

     
To the anger and dismay of the medical staff who attempted to treat him when he finally arrived at hospital, there was the imprint of a boot on Diarmuid's face. As he lay dying on the floor, a police officer had seen fit to stand on his face.
After the shooting and as can be heard on the tape, Diarmuid was dragged out of the building and the image of his blood smeared down the front steps of his home is eloquent testimony to the way in which he was treated in being taken out onto the street. Again, no explanation has been offered by the police as to why they felt it was necessary to take him out of the room. Certainly, the CS gas - which was used in such unprecedented quantities that four days later forensics teams entering the building still had to wear masks - would have made it difficult to treat him where he lay, but these difficulties are insignificant in comparison to the danger of dragging such a seriously injured man down two flights of stairs. Neither, incidentally, did he receive any first aid.

Finally, and even more damning of the police in the light of the tape, was their conduct in regard to the press. Bogus `witnesses' were dredged up for the benefit of the press to promulgate the outrageous lie that there had been a shoot-out and that the house was some kind of ammunition dump. For example, several papers carried the claim from one that ``There were police everywhere. They were shouting `Throw down your weapon' and `Throw down your gun'.'' Another claimed that ``there was an exchange of fire.

``There were about eight shots and I heard a policeman saying `I have got the gun, I have the gun, the son of a bitch'.'' The Guardian had someone saying ``We heard them shouting from the ground; `Drop your gun, you've got no chance'.'' The headline in the Daily Mirror which accompanied the picture of the bloody steps was ``Don't cry for him. He was going to blow up the Channel Tunnel tomorrow''. The Metropolitan Police enthusiastically supported these claims for some three days before they were forced to admit, via a one-paragraph report buried in the inside pages of The Times that there were no guns, no explosives in the house and ``no evidence of any intended target''.

The Metropolitan Police and the Britidh government may assume that the great get-out clause so useful to policemen who indulge in shoot-to-kill or the murder of civilians - ``I thought my life was in danger'' - comprehensively answers their accusers, but they are wrong. Too many other issues have been raised by the tape and the prior and subsequent conduct of the police.

Neither campaigners for Diarmuid nor his family accept the paucity of the explanation provided by Officer `Kilo' and will continue to insist, for as long as it takes, that an independent inquiry is the only way obtain answers to these questions.

 

 

Transcript of Diarmuid O'Neill police surveillance tape



Tape begins with the sound of breaking glass as CS gas canister is fired through the window.

All: Jesus Christ!

Sound of police attempting to batter down the door and shouting

All: All right, all right! We give up, we're unarmed, we give up. All right. Whoa, whoa whoa whoa. We're unarmed. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Police: I'm a police officer, get on the floor.

Diarmuid: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Police: Open the fucking door now!

Diarmuid: OK, we're down.

All: We're down, we're down.

Police: Open that door!

Diarmuid: OK

Police: (shouting over Diarmuid's answer): Get to that fucking door now and show us your hands!

Diarmuid: OK

Police: Show me your hands now!

Diarmuid: They're up, they're up.

Police: Get out here.

All: We're on the deck.

Police: Show me your hands through the door! Show me your hands through the door!

Diarmuid: OK

Police (again): Show me your hands through the door!

Diarmuid: OK.

Police: Open it, open the door.

Diarmuid: I can't, it won't ...

Police: Open it! Show us your hands!

Shouting by police followed by short burst of automatic gunfire.

Police: Shoot the fuckers!

Diarmuid: Fucking hell!

Another burst of automatic gunfire, longer than the first.

All: Whoa, whoa.

Sound of choking.

Police (entering the room): Just stay where the fuck you are. Just stay on the floor. Stay on the floor .... one in the bathroom and one on the floor. Just keep your hands where we can see them OK and don't fucking move!

Several minutes of police arresting the others and searching the room. Diarmuid can be heard groaning.

Police: We're going to have to take him out because (obscured by shouting). Take him out. Give him first aid, that's it.

Police: Right listen up. We want to take him outside to the pavement now!

Police: Yes, he's going.

(Shouting)

Police: Everyone all right?

(Shouting)

Police: We're ready to take the suspects out. They can't come in because of the gas.

Police: All right, just hold on for a second, hold on for a second.

(Shouting)

Police: Shift him! ... Pick his knees up.... Move him out now!

Police: Hold it, hold it!

(Shouting)

Police: Right, bring him out now. Come on!


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