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    Neil Hyde 'has named Martin O'Hagan murder gang' 

    by
    Grimster
    Published on 28-01-2012 03:28 PM
    Categories:
    1. News from Northern Ireland
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    A man previously accused of murdering journalist Martin O'Hagan has agreed to co-operate with police investigating the LVF killing.
    A lawyer for 32-year-old Neil Hyde told Belfast Crown Court the Lurgan man has signed a contract to become an "assisting offender".
    He said he had offered the Crown "the very greatest assistance in relation to resolving the notorious killing".

    Mr O'Hagan, 51, was shot dead in Lurgan in September 2001.

    The killing of the Sunday World reporter was claimed by the Red Hand Defenders, a cover name used by both the Loyalist Volunteer Force and Ulster Defence Association.
    Lawyer Gordon Kerr QC said Hyde signed the contract under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA) in return for a reduced sentence for 48 LVF-linked offences to which he has already pleaded guilty.

    His address was given as c/o the Witness Protection Unit.
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    Four quizzed over attempted murder 

    by
    Grimster
    Published on 14-01-2012 02:11 AM
    Categories:
    1. News from Northern Ireland
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    Police are questioning four people over the attempted murder of a soldier in Belfast.

    Security forces said he was lucky to escape with his life after he spotted a bomb underneath the driver's seat inside his car on January 5.

    The soldier from Britain had been visiting a girlfriend when dissident republicans opposed to the peace process opened the door of his UK-registered Vauxhall Astra and slipped the device beneath the seat.

    Three men, aged 43, 40 and 30, and a 41-year-old woman were arrested in north Belfast on Friday.

    Police said they were taken to Antrim Serious Crime Suite where they are being questioned.

    Officers also searched nine properties in the area.
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    US court to rule on Boston College Troubles archive 

    by
    Grimster
    Published on 09-01-2012 05:39 AM
    Categories:
    1. News from around the world
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    A court in the United States will be asked to rule later that interviews with former terrorists should not be handed over to NI authorities.

    Last year, the PSNI launched a legal bid to gain access to interviews with former republicans and loyalists held by Boston College.

    They are being sought by detectives investigating cases of people murdered and secretly buried by the IRA.

    At the heart of the case is the 1972 IRA murder of Jean McConville.
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    PPS to consider if soldier who shot Daniel Hegarty should be prosecuted 

    by
    Grimster
    Published on 21-12-2011 07:05 AM
    Categories:
    1. News from Northern Ireland
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    Northern Ireland's senior coroner has asked the Public Prosecution Service to consider if a soldier who killed a Derry teenager should be prosecuted.
    John Leckey made the request after an inquest jury found that Daniel Hegarty posed no threat when he was shot dead by the soldier in Creggan in 1972.
    He said it was the appropriate course of action given the jury's verdict.
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    Report says IRA opened fire first in 1987 Loughgall attack 

    by
    Grimster
    Published on 02-12-2011 05:50 AM
    Categories:
    1. News from Northern Ireland
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    It has been reported that a new investigation by the PSNI's Historical Enquiries Team has found the SAS was within its rights to shoot dead eight IRA men during an attack on a County Armagh police station. According to the Belfast Telegraph, the report has concluded the IRA unit opened fire first in the incident at Loughgall RUC station in 1987.
    A civilian was also killed at the time.
    It had previously been believed that the SAS had fired first.
    The shootings at Loughgall RUC station were among the most controversial of the Troubles.
    Eight members of the IRA's so-called 'East Tyrone brigade' were shot dead by the SAS in a fierce gun battle at Loughgall on 8 May 1987.
    They were killed as they approached the station with a 200lb bomb, its fuse lit, in the bucket of a hijacked digger.
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    If you want an oasis of calm then don’t look back in anger 

    by
    Grimster
    Published on 27-11-2011 01:26 AM
    Categories:
    1. News from Northern Ireland
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    By Kevin Myers, Belfast Telegraph.
    First things first: 40 years ago, the Parachute Regiment had become state-authorised killers in Northern Ireland.
    According to David McKittrick’s indispensable volume Lost Lives, the Paras killed 39 people between 1971 and 1976. Only seven of these were paramilitaries.
    The death toll of 33 unarmed victims killed by the three battalions of the Parachute Regiment is more than that for hundreds of battalions of the rest of the Army and Royal Marines combined.

    Now the Attorney General, John Larkin QC, has ordered a new inquest into 10 of these killings, on internment day, near New Barnsley housing estate in Belfast on August 9, 1971.
    One of the victims was Daniel Teggert. His son John, welcoming the decision, said that it would not end the campaign for a full independent investigation.
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    Attorney general orders new inquests into Ballymurphy deaths. 

    by
    Grimster
    Published on 15-11-2011 07:40 AM
    Categories:
    1. News from Northern Ireland
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    The attorney general has ordered 10 new inquests into the deaths of the people shot dead by paratroopers in Ballymurphy in 1971.

    The victims' families said the decision by John Larkin was an important step in their ongoing campaign for justice.

    The Army said it opened fire in response to gunfire from republican paramilitaries.

    The families have carried out a long-running campaign for an independent inquiry into the killings.
    Ten people were shot dead during the shootings and another man died from what the families claim was a related incident.
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