How technology caught up with a gunman 40 years on

Tucked away for almost 40 years in a steel-lined room at police HQ, an envelope held the key to eventually solving Alfredo Fusco’s 1973 murder. Inside that envelope, reference FP7/4, was a white card with fingerprints belonging to Mr Fusco’s killer obtained at the time from the crime scene. The prints of a palm, left forefinger and a left thumb, were taken from a door to a store where Mr Fusco had tried to escape. The prints were lifted on to sellotape and put onto a card. But in 1973 fingerprint technology was much less sophisticated than today. Then it was a manual process of comparing a crime scene print with a fingerprint. The only way investigations would have proceeded on fingerprint evidence was on the basis of comparing the prints with a suspect or suspects. Up until 2009, when the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) reviewed the case, Clarke was never a suspect. His fingerprints were not even on file until he murdered Margaret O’Neill (58) two years after killing Mr Fusco. ...

The children's commissioner in NI is investigating photographs of young children dressed as republican paramilitaries.
Patricia Lewsley described the photographs as "deeply worrying". In them, children are seen wearing balaclavas, combat clothes and berets while holding replica weapons, including AK47s and Armalites. The images were taken six months ago at an event at the Ti Chulainn cultural centre, south Armagh. The centre in Mullaghbawn has received significant EU funding in recent years. Ms Lewsley said: "I will be contacting the Ti Chulainn Centre, the Special EU Programmes Body and the Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister for an explanation. "Parents and responsible adults must protect children and young people, parents and responsible adults must keep them safe. "My job is to hold Government and organisations to account over their actions," she said. "The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the Government has signed, states there is a clear duty to protect children from getting into vulnerable situations such as this." ...

Demands for a homecoming parade in Belfast to recognise soldiers returning from Afghanistan are intensifying.
The City Council is expected to hold a meeting next week to propose inviting the Ministry of Defence to stage an event for the Royal Irish Regiment and Irish Guards who return from Helmand province in the coming weeks.

The motion will be proposed by Ian Crozier, chairman of Belfast City Council’s policy and resources committee. “The people of Northern Ireland want to see a homecoming parade in their capital city, there is no doubt about that,” he said.
“Defence Secretary Liam Fox has made clear his support for a parade in Belfast, but in recent days some ambiguity has emerged about what needs to happen so that a parade is actually organised.
...

Tributes have been paid to a Royal Irish Regiment soldier from Banbridge who was killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday. L/Cpl Stephen McKee, 27, was taking part in an operation in Helmand province when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb. His wife Carley said he was a hero and the best husband anyone could have. The Ministry of Defence said he was a "fine soldier, trustworthy and courageous". Tributes have also been paid by NI First Minister Peter Robinson, Danny Kennedy MLA, who is a friend of the McKee family and the Orange Order, of which L/Cpl McKee was a member. As well as his wife, he leaves behind parents Heather and Bobby, brothers Michael, Gareth and Robert and sisters Kelly and Rebecca. His two-day-old daughter passed away last year. The dead soldier's brothers, father-in-law and cousin have all served with the Royal Irish Regiment. ...

From the Belfast Telegraph.

Healing Through Remembering director Kate Turner spoke with a banner at her side - and on it the words: Whatever you say, say something.

On its own, that short sentence says a lot about the distance we have travelled; a considerable distance from the words that once cautioned: Whatever you say, say nothing.
The Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson was in the audience, as was Alan McBride, who lost his wife and father-in-law in the IRA bomb on the Shankill Road in 1993.
This event, in my hometown of Holywood, was organised by the Sanctus Boscus Reconciliation Group, and I had been asked to say a few words at the end of the talk by Ms Turner.
...

A Northern Ireland Veteran is planning to trek to Mount Everest basecamp in aid of Help for Heroes.

"Shaun the Sherpa" who lost his son Phillip in Afghanistan has undertaken the challenge to raise money for the charity who provide help and support for wounded members of our armed forces and their families when they need it most.
...

A former soldier who served with the Royal Irish Regiment is selling his Military Cross on auction website eBay.
Ranger Alan Owens was awarded the prestigious honour for work in Afghanistan, developing “a level of empathy with the local population which no amount of fighting could establish”.
Mr Owens, from Portadown, Co Armagh, was presented with the Military Cross in March 2009.
But it, along with other military memorabilia is listed for sale on eBay under the title “real British military cross medal”.

...

The Northern Ireland civil rights campaigner and former Westminster MP, Bernadette McAliskey, has been shot by gunmen who burst into her home at Coalisland in County Tyrone. The three men shot Mrs McAliskey, formerly known as Bernadette Devlin, in the chest, arm and thigh as she went to wake up one of her three children. Her husband, Michael, was also shot twice at point blank range. Three men are now being questioned by police. They were arrested by members of the Parachute Regiment, who were on patrol nearby when they heard the shots. The McAliskeys were flown by army helicopter to hospital in Belfast, where their condition is said to be serious, but not life-threatening. ...

From the Belfast Telegraph:

If Northern Ireland didn't descend into Yugoslavia-style ethnic cleansing during the Troubles, it was in spite of republicans not because of them, argues Owen Polley

Is it a shock that Pat Sheehan, convicted IRA bomber-turned-West Belfast MLA, has a warped view of the Troubles? As the latest back-street revolutionary to turn Armani-clad seer and represent Sinn Fein at Stormont, it would be more surprising if he saw republican violence for the futile nihilism it was, rather than as a "probably quite civilised" campaign.

That won't relieve the hurt and revulsion felt by victims of 30 years of IRA 'civility' when they read his comments - made in an interview with David McKittrick.
...

Ten Protestant men have been shot dead as they were returning home from work in a mini-bus in Northern Ireland. The attack happened on the Whitecross to Bessbrook Road in South Armagh this evening as the men, all textile workers, returned from a factory six miles from Bessbrook. The mini-bus in which they were travelling was ambushed by up to a dozen attackers. It is believed the massacre was in revenge for the murders of five Catholics in Lurgan and Whitecross last night. Initial reports suggest the passengers were forced to line up outside their vehicle, after which they were systematically gunned down. Detectives found more than 100 spent cartridges at the scene. One survivor remains critically ill in hospital with bullet wounds to his lungs and a further passenger, a Catholic, was ordered away before the shooting. Nine of the dead men were from the village of Bessbrook - the bus driver came from Mount Norris. Johnston Chapman had to identify the bodies of his two nephews, who died in the attack. He said: "They were just lying there like dogs, blood everywhere." ...