Coroner concerned by ‘elusive’ nature of
MI5
12 March 2008 --
Northern Ireland’s most senior coroner yesterday admitted
to becoming “increasingly vexed” at his inability to contact
the top secret MI5 organisation.
Coroner John Leckey expressed a growing irritation at the
elusive nature of the intelligence agency’s new role in
Northern Ireland.
Last December an inquest into the RUC shooting of IRA man
Pearse Jordan in 1992 was told that MI5 had taken over
responsibility for assessing the threat risk to 14 police
officers called to give evidence at the hearing.
Mr Leckey was assured the threat assessments would be
completed within weeks but three months on the coroner has
voiced frustration that he has still heard nothing from MI5.
Mr Leckey expressed irritation that he could not avail of
the “luxury of picking up the telephone’’ to quiz MI5 chiefs
over their failure to provide the court with the threat
assessments.
PSNI barrister Bernard McCloskey said he would contact
“certain quarters’’ to address the concerns.
When Mr Leckey questioned whether he will be allowed to
share correspondence received from MI5 with the Jordan
family’s legal representative, Mr McCluskey assured the
coroner that the “suggestive limitation of dissemenation’’
would be explored in due course.
In an unusual move the coroner’s own legal representative,
Nicholas Hanna QC, raised concerns over the PSNI’s apparent
inability to provide the Jordan family’s legal team with
proper disclosure of intelligence material.
Yesterday’s hearing was told that the Jordan family’s legal
team had still to receive substantial amounts of
intelligence documents from the PSNI.
Missing documents include a statement made by the police
officer who shot Mr Jordan, police transmissions before the
shooting and notes of a meeting between former Special
Branch chief Bill Lowry and the officers involved in the
shooting.
More than 35 pages of the investigating officer’s original
50-page report into the shooting have also been withheld.
However the Jordan family’s barrister Karen Quinlivan BL,
acting for Madden & Finucane solicitors, complained that
even the documents they have received from the PSNI were
completely unintelligible, as practically every name was
blacked out.
Ms Quinlivan said that even non-sensitive material, which
had originally included the names of witnesses, had
subsequently been blacked out by the PSNI.
“There is no way of cross referencing to other documents –
they are unintelligible and that renders them useless,” she
said.
“It makes absolutely no sense and shows a backward step by
the PSNI in relation to disclosure.”
The coroner’s barrister Nicholas Hanna claimed the PSNI’s
failure to supply the Jordan family with proper disclosure
had turned the proceedings into a “marathon”.
“We need some clarity here. It’s not satisfactory that some
names were initially unredacted and now appear redacted,” he
said.
Mr McCluskey said the PSNI was continuing to work on
disclosure issues, but that if agreement could not be
reached with the Jordan family, it may ultimately be a
matter for the High Court to resolve.
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