Journalist faces 'dirty tricks' arrest
Northern Ireland: special report
John Mullin, Ireland correspondent
Tuesday May 16, 2000
The Guardian
One of Northern Ireland's leading journalists is facing prosecution under the Official Secrets Act over a series of articles on military intelligence dirty tricks.
Scotland Yard's special branch wants to question Liam Clarke, Northern Ireland editor of the Sunday Times, in London, and is warning him he will be arrested. Mr Clarke is taking legal advice.
The articles, which appeared late last year, were based on interviews with Martin Ingram, a pseudonym for an ex-member of the force research unit, a shadowy outfit in military intelligence. Its responsibilities included recruiting and running army agents, and infiltrating them into terrorist groups on both sides.
One of those double agents was Brian Nelson, who earned £28,000 a year from the army while also acting as intelligence officer for the Ulster Defence Association. He was implicated in the unresolved murder of Catholic solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989, one of the murkiest episodes of the troubles.
Ingram told the Sunday Times that undercover intelligence mounted an arson attack on offices outside Belfast occupied by Sir John Stevens, now the Metropolitan police commissioner, when he was investigating allegations of collusion between loyalists and members of the security forces in 1990. Fire broke out hours before he planned to arrest Nelson, destroying evidence.... read more
http://www.perceptions.couk.com/gumediauk.htm
Northern Ireland: special report
John Mullin, Ireland correspondent
Tuesday May 16, 2000
The Guardian
One of Northern Ireland's leading journalists is facing prosecution under the Official Secrets Act over a series of articles on military intelligence dirty tricks.
Scotland Yard's special branch wants to question Liam Clarke, Northern Ireland editor of the Sunday Times, in London, and is warning him he will be arrested. Mr Clarke is taking legal advice.
The articles, which appeared late last year, were based on interviews with Martin Ingram, a pseudonym for an ex-member of the force research unit, a shadowy outfit in military intelligence. Its responsibilities included recruiting and running army agents, and infiltrating them into terrorist groups on both sides.
One of those double agents was Brian Nelson, who earned £28,000 a year from the army while also acting as intelligence officer for the Ulster Defence Association. He was implicated in the unresolved murder of Catholic solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989, one of the murkiest episodes of the troubles.
Ingram told the Sunday Times that undercover intelligence mounted an arson attack on offices outside Belfast occupied by Sir John Stevens, now the Metropolitan police commissioner, when he was investigating allegations of collusion between loyalists and members of the security forces in 1990. Fire broke out hours before he planned to arrest Nelson, destroying evidence.... read more
http://www.perceptions.couk.com/gumediauk.htm
