Castlereagh break-in - Revision history

Tom Griffin: /* References */

2012-08-23T12:01:19Z

References

Claire Robinson at 22:10, 24 August 2009

2009-08-24T22:10:51Z

Tom Griffin: /* Investigations */ typo

2009-08-02T17:31:42Z

Investigations: typo

Tom Griffin: /* More rogue officers */

2009-08-02T15:15:00Z

More rogue officers

Claire Robinson: /* Police raids */

2009-07-07T09:58:15Z

Police raids

Claire Robinson: /* Rogue Special Branch officers */

2009-07-07T09:57:49Z

Rogue Special Branch officers

Claire Robinson: /* Rogue Special Branch officers */

2009-07-07T09:57:28Z

Rogue Special Branch officers

Claire Robinson: /* Rogue Special branch officers */

2009-07-07T09:52:35Z

Rogue Special branch officers

Tom Griffin: /* Flanagan's retirement */

2009-07-06T23:40:40Z

Flanagan's retirement

Tom Griffin: /* More rogue officers */

2009-07-06T23:38:56Z

More rogue officers

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:01, 23 August 2012
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	<references/>		<references/>

−	[[Category: Northern Ireland]]	+	[[Category: Northern Ireland]][[Category:State Violence and Collusion Project]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:10, 24 August 2009
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		+	{{Template:Northern_Ireland_badge}}
	The burglary known as the [[Castlereagh break-in]] took place at the headquarters of the [[Police Service of Northern Ireland]] (PSNI) in Castlereagh, Belfast on St Patrick's Day 2002.		The burglary known as the [[Castlereagh break-in]] took place at the headquarters of the [[Police Service of Northern Ireland]] (PSNI) in Castlereagh, Belfast on St Patrick's Day 2002.

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 ==Investigations==
-In the week after the burglary, Chief Constable Sir [[Ronnie Flanagan]] announced an investigation to be headed by Detective Chief Superintendent [[Phil Wright]], the most senior detective in Belfast. <ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1880250.stm Review into 'national security breach'], BBC News, 19 March 2002.</ref> Northern Ireland Secretary [[John Reid]] commissioned an inquiry by the former Permanent Secretary of the NIO Sir [[John Chilcott]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1883924.stm The riddle of the stolen files], by [[Kevin Connolly]], BBC News, 20 March 2002.</ref>
+In the week after the burglary, Chief Constable Sir [[Ronnie Flanagan]] announced an investigation to be headed by Detective Chief Superintendent [[Phil Wright]], the most senior detective in Belfast. <ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1880250.stm Review into 'national security breach'], BBC News, 19 March 2002.</ref> Northern Ireland Secretary [[John Reid]] commissioned an inquiry by the former Permanent Secretary of the NIO Sir [[John Chilcot]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1883924.stm The riddle of the stolen files], by [[Kevin Connolly]], BBC News, 20 March 2002.</ref>
 ==Flanagan's retirement==

@@ Line 83: / Line 83: @@
 ==More rogue officers==
-On 29 September, the Daily Telegraph, citing assembly sources, claimed that Sir [[John Chilcott]]'s report would show that rogue Special branch officers had colluded with the IRA in order to undermine the Good Friday Agreement.
+On 29 September, the Daily Telegraph, citing assembly sources, claimed that Sir [[John Chilcot]]'s report would show that rogue Special branch officers had colluded with the IRA in order to undermine the Good Friday Agreement.
 ::The police investigation into the theft is running in parallel to an inquiry headed by Sir John Chilcott, a former Permanent Secretary at the Northern Ireland Office.

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 ==Police raids==
-Statewatch reported that the offices of the Pat Finucane Centre were raided during the investigation.
+Statewatch reported that the offices of the Pat Finucane Centre were raided during the investigation:
 ::At 7.00 am on 30 March armed members of the PSNI forcibly entered the building in which the Pat Finucane Centre is based (the Pat Finucane Centre runs a major website on Northern Ireland policing controversies and can be found at www.serve.com/pfc/). The purpose allegedly was to search the offices of Tar Abhaile, on the floor above the PFC. A private flat on the ground floor was also entered. PFC, when they arrived at work at 9.00 am, were denied access to their office. They contacted two members of the management committee who were also denied access to the building on the grounds that they were “likely to interfere with the search”. Later that day it emerged that the offices of Cúnamh, a victims support group which has helped numerous families of those killed or wounded on Bloody Sunday, were also raided and personal and confidential information relating to the families were taken. Other raids were carried out in Belfast leading to the arrest of four men and one woman. One of those arrested was a civilian worker from a loyalist estate in East Belfast. A West Belfast Sinn Féin MLA member immediately condemned the arrests and raids as “ridiculous” and “highly” provocative. There were more arrests on 4 April and PSNI have threatened further raids.

@@ Line 58: / Line 58: @@
 ==Rogue Special Branch officers==
-In June 2002, a rash of stories appeared suggesting that the possibility of [[PSNI Special Branch]] involvement was being reconsidered. A story in The Irish Independent reported:
+In June 2002, a rash of stories appeared suggesting that the possibility of [[PSNI Special Branch]] involvement was being reconsidered. A story in the Irish Independent reported:
 ::Senior security service and British police sources now believe that the extraordinary break-in at the Castlereagh complex in east Belfast was an "inside job", undertaken by renegade special branch officers, possibly with the help of agents working for an undercover army unit.

@@ Line 56: / Line 56: @@
 ::None was charged in connection with the raid. Police are, however, seeking to extradite Larry Zaitschek, a chef who formerly worked at Castlereagh, from the United States.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/jun/22/northernireland.northernireland Castlereagh break-in an 'inside job'] by Rosie Cowan, Richard Norton Taylor and Nick Hopkins, [[The Guardian]], Saturday June 22 2002.</ref>
-==Rogue Special branch officers==
+==Rogue Special Branch officers==
 In June 2002, a rash of stories appeared suggesting that the possibility of [[PSNI Special Branch]] involvement was being reconsidered.

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 ::The raid on Castlereagh happened as Sir [[Ronnie Flanagan]] was about to step off the policing stage in Northern Ireland and it was the talk of the place a week or so later on 25 March, when the security and political establishment gathered to say farewell to the outgoing Chief Constable.
-::In the grand setting of the Throne Room at Hillsborough Castle, [[John Reid|Reid]] heaped praise on Flanagan. They were all there to hear his words: the most senior army officer in Northern Ireland at that time, Lieutenant General [[Alistair Irwin]]; the British Security Minister [[Jane Kennedy]]; Flanagan's deputy, Colin Cramphorn; the Head of Special Branch in Belfast [[Bill Lowry]]; and the tall chap in the grey suit, MI5's main man in Northern Ireland, its director and co-ordinator of intelligence, the man who had called New York those few days earlier with the new of the break-in.<ref>The Amed Peace: Life and Death After the Ceasefires, by [[Brian Rowan]], Mainstream, 2004, p17.</ref>
+::In the grand setting of the Throne Room at Hillsborough Castle, [[John Reid|Reid]] heaped praise on Flanagan. They were all there to hear his words: the most senior army officer in Northern Ireland at that time, Lieutenant General [[Alistair Irwin]]; the British Security Minister [[Jane Kennedy]]; Flanagan's deputy, [[Colin Cramphorn]]; the Head of Special Branch in Belfast [[Bill Lowry]]; and the tall chap in the grey suit, [[MI5]]'s main man in Northern Ireland, its director and co-ordinator of intelligence, the man who had called New York those few days earlier with the new of the break-in.<ref>The Amed Peace: Life and Death After the Ceasefires, by [[Brian Rowan]], Mainstream, 2004, p17.</ref>
 ==Police raids==

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:38, 6 July 2009
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	::"These officers wanted to undermine the peace process because they are unhappy with the changes the force is undergoing and they wanted to get the IRA into trouble. The IRA could not look a gift horse in the mouth.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/09/28/nira28.xml 'Police helped IRA steal Special Branch secrets'], by [[Thomas Harding]], [[Daily Telegraph]], 28 September 2002.</ref>		::"These officers wanted to undermine the peace process because they are unhappy with the changes the force is undergoing and they wanted to get the IRA into trouble. The IRA could not look a gift horse in the mouth.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/09/28/nira28.xml 'Police helped IRA steal Special Branch secrets'], by [[Thomas Harding]], [[Daily Telegraph]], 28 September 2002.</ref>
		+
		+	==Zaitschek case collapses==
		+	In July 2009, the [[Public Prosecution Service]] issued a statement saying that the case against [[Larry Zaitschek]] had been dropped:
		+	::"The PPS had previously confirmed that there had been sufficient evidence to prosecute Laurence Zaitschek should he be made amenable in Northern Ireland. All such decisions are kept under continuous review.
		+
		+	::"After the original decision for prosecution had been taken, new information came to the attention of the PPS through the chief constable.
		+
		+	::"The PPS concluded that a duty of disclosure to the defence arose in respect of this information. It took all possible steps in conjunction with police to make it available.
		+
		+	::"However, the chief constable has now confirmed that he is not in a position to make this information available for the purposes of disclosure.
		+
		+	::"In those circumstances, the PPS has concluded that the test for prosecution is no longer met as the disclosure obligations placed upon the prosecution cannot be discharged and a fair trial could not thereby be achieved."<ref>[http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/chef-wont-be-prosecuted-over-castlereagh-breakin-14381973.html Chef won't be prosecuted over Castlereagh break-in], belfasttelegaph.co.uk, 3 July 2009.</ref>
		+
		+	The [[Police Service of Northern Ireland]] also issued a statement:
		+	::"The PSNI has pursued a rigorous and thorough investigation into the events concerning the aggravated burglary at Castlereagh police station which occurred on March 17 2002.
		+
		+	::"All materials and evidence gathered during the course of that investigation and known to the PSNI were properly presented or revealed to the Public Prosecution Service, who initially concluded that the test for prosecution was met.
		+
		+	::"Recently, other material, which did not originate from the PSNI or the security and intelligence agencies, was drawn to the attention of the PSNI.
		+
		+	::"This was relevant to the facts at issue and the PSNI agreed was such that its disclosure would be necessary in order for Mr Zaitschek to receive a fair trial.
		+
		+	::"Despite the efforts of the PSNI, we are not in a position to make available all the relevant material to PPS for the purposes of disclosure.
		+
		+	::"Consequently, the PPS have concluded that Mr Zaitschek could not receive a fair trial and PSNI are in agreement that a prosecution could not proceed in those circumstances."<ref>[http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/chef-wont-be-prosecuted-over-castlereagh-breakin-14381973.html Chef won't be prosecuted over Castlereagh break-in], belfasttelegaph.co.uk, 3 July 2009.</ref>

	==References==		==References==