Bill Lowry

A former senior officer in RUC Special Branch.

William Stobie

Mr Lowry had previously clashed with Hugh Orde before he became Chief Constable over the prosecution of UDA informant William Stobie. Special Branch sources say he told the Stevens team they wouldn't achieve a conviction, but could be signing Stobie's death warrant by bringing him to trial.

Stobie was murdered by the UDA a year ago, just weeks after he was acquitted on charges brought by the Stevens team, which Mr Orde was in charge of in Belfast.

Departure

A former RUC divisional commander in west Belfast, Mr Lowry headed the intelligence operation that led to the recent raid on Sinn Fein's Stormont offices.

It is understood Chief Superintendent Lowry was escorted to his office to clear his desk, after being served with a disciplinary charge by Assistant Chief Constable Duncan McCausland - a charge that was withdrawn 48 hours later.

It is understood that, two days earlier on October 13, he had a bust-up with the man responsible for Special Branch operations, Assistant Chief Constable Chris Albiston, over the briefing.

Mr Lowry's lawyers are now finalising severance terms with the PSNI.

But colleagues and friends say they are alarmed at what they regard as the unexplained "scapegoating" of the top policeman.

"Bill agreed to conduct a briefing for Brian Rowan of the BBC.

"It was approved by Alan McQuillan, the ACC for Belfast, and the head of the press office was present to take notes.

US conference

Four days ago, exactly one year after the PSNI raids on local homes that precipitated the collapse of the Stormont Assembly, the Special Branch's former Belfast commander, Bill Lowry, addressed a conference in Washington.

The specific topic of the lecture was 'Terrorism Intelligence Analysis and Counter-Terrorism Operations'.

Lowry was joined in presenting a case study of 'intelligence analysis techniques used against the IRA' by the PSNI's current Head of Special Branch Operations, Superintendent John Short.

The conference in question was the annual Counter-Terrorism and Homeland Security Conference and Expo, held at the Renaissance Washington DC Hotel. Although still serving as a high-grade 'Branch-man', Short has joined Lowry as partner in a Stateside lecturing consultancy that provides 'paid-for presentations' to private and public agencies concerned with intelligence and law-enforcement issues throughout the United States.

It is understood that Short has the approval of the PSNI in his lecturing venture. Lowry left the PSNI in November last year - just weeks after he masterminded a high-profile Special Branch operation, codenamed Torsion.

Dean Godson book launch

Melanie Phillips, the columnist, was the star turn at the launch of Dean Godson's biography of David Trimble last week. In a speech she suggested the British government had hung the leader of the Ulster Unionists out to dry, a betrayal he should have expected given its failure to defeat the IRA.

The launch drew an eclectic crowd and I was able to compare notes with Bill Lowry, former head of Special Branch in Belfast, and Anthony McIntyre, a former IRA H-Block prisoner turned academic. In fact, the general consensus was that the British government had imposed something close to a military defeat on the IRA.