THE mother of an IRA man shot dead in disputed circumstances last night hit out
after it was revealed that MI5 will be allowed to decide whether police
witnesses should be given anonymity at her son’s inquest.
Teresa Jordan was speaking after an inquest into the murder of her son Pearse
was told that MI5 had now taken over responsibility for assessing the potential
threat to 14 police officers who are due to give evidence about the shooting.
The 23-year-old from Bally-murphy in west Belfast was shot dead as he ran away
from a stolen car after it was rammed by an undercover RUC unit on Falls Road in
November 1992.
His family have fought a 16-year legal battle to have the policemen involved in
his killing give evidence in court.
In 2001 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the British government had
failed to properly investigate the killing and ordered it to carry out a new
investigation.
However, at a preliminary inquest hearing yesterday a barrister for the police
told the court that MI5 and not the PSNI would now carry out assessments on the
potential threat to police officers giving evidence in open court.
The MI5 admission is understood to be the first time in which it has been
officially confirmed that the secret service has taken over powers from police.
MI5’s new role in Northern Ireland has been strongly criticised by Sinn Fein and
the SDLP.
In June 2006 then justice oversight commissioner Al Hutchinson, now the police
ombudsman, warned that the transfer of powers to MI5 had “profound potential
implications for the police service”.
Yesterday’s hearing was told that the transfer of powers to MI5 had only
recently taken place and that officials from the secret service were due to meet
with the PSNI today to discuss management protocols, which had still to be
confirmed.
Speaking after the hearing, Teresa Jordan said: “MI5 and the Special Branch set
in place the operation that led to the killing of Pearse.
“This included the calculated misinformation in a series of subsequent att-empts
to somehow justify the killing of Pearse, by falsely claiming that he was armed
and that the car in which he was travelling had a bomb, which was later proved
to be untrue.
“It is our firm view that any so-called risk assessment must be undertaken
independently of those responsible for planning and carrying
out Pearse’s killing and must be conducted by the police ombudsman.”
Questioning further delays in the case, solicitor Fearghal Shiels said: “The
Jordan family are disappointed that in the current political climate, 17 police
and military witnesses will seek anonymity when giving their evidence to the
inquest.
“Those witnesses, like all other witnesses at the inquest, should be required to
give their evidence openly and transparently in court under their own names.”