COPS NAME SUSPECTS IN RUC AGENT SHOOTING; Gun is linked to attempted
POLICE investigating the IRA murder bid on former RUC agent Martin McGartland have finally named the men they suspect were involved in the shooting.
And detectives have also disclosed for the first time the make and calibre of the gun used in the attempted murder in June 1999.
The Sunday Mirror has obtained a copy of a letter sent last month by a Northumbria Police officer to McGartland which sets out the police investigation to date.
The force has given its "reasons" for the arrest of suspects and convicted terrorists Henry Joseph (Harry) Fitzsimmons and Scott Gary Monaghanin October 1999.
The officer writes: "In relation to the the two arrests mentioned, Henry Fitzsimmons was arrested as a result of the following:
(i)He was arrested and imprisoned as a result of you informing the authorities of his terrorist activities, therefore he had motive; (ii) he shares a good likeness to one of the men seen by the witness as being involved; (iii)reliable intelligence has been received that he was involved in the shooting."
The detective added: "Scott Gary Mongahan was arrested due to the fact:
(i) He shares a good likeness to one of the men seen by a witness as being involved; (ii) he has been the subject of a voice identification in respect of a taped answer phone message which had been evidentially linked to the preparation and planning of your murder. That message has been forensically examined; (iii) reliable intelligence has been received that he was involved."
Glasgow-born Monaghan was subjected to a voice analysis test after police recovered a tape from an answering machine in which a man with a Scottish accent tried to buy a Bedford van from a private seller in the Newcastle area weeks before the shooting.
McGartland told the Sunday Mirror: "I am pleased that Northumbria police have finally confirmed that they have identified these two men.
"I would now expect the full force of the law to be used to bring these two men to trial and ultimately to justice."
The police letter also reveals that one of two guns found two months after the shooting had now been forensically linked to the murder bid.
The gun that fired the shots was a Czech-made CZ 9 mm pistol.
Monaghan, 34, was set free early under the Good Friday Agreement in 1999 after he had been jailed for a total of 1,004 years for a bombing campaign across Northern Ireland.
Fitzsimons was jailed for 15 years in 1990 after he was caught in a house in north Belfast trying to assemble a booby trap car bomb.
Copyright 2001 MGN LTD
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
Link;- http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20010506/ai_n14527734/pg_2/
Thursday, June 5, 2003
Tuesday, June 25, 2002
Padraig (Podraig) Wilson IRA terrorist and Martin McGartland the undercover agent inside the IRA
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Padraig (Podraig) Wilson IRA terrorist and Martin McGartland the undercover agent inside the IRA
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
IRA ARMS CHIEF SENTENCED ME TO DIE
A KEY figure in the Northern Ireland peace process is today named by former Special Branch agent Martin McGartland as the IRA punishment chief who ordered his execution.
Padraig Wilson, who is set to lead the IRA team negotiating disarmament, headed the terrorist organisation's intelligence and discipline operations in Belfast in the mid-1980s.
McGartland, who infiltrated the IRA on the Special Branch's behalf, reveals in the Sunday Mirror today how he went to meet Wilson at Sinn Fein headquarters in 1991 - but was faced, instead, with a punishment squad
who took him away for interrogation and execution. He escaped by jumping from a third-floor window.
Related Results
Wilson, 42, still a prisoner at the Maze but is expected to be released within weeks, was elected to handle the decommissioning talks at an IRA Army Council meeting two weeks ago in the Irish Republic.
Wilson is said to have met Canadian General John de Chastelain, head of the International Decommissioning Commission, in Dundalk yesterday, to start talks on handing over weapons.
Sinn Fein officials refused to confirm Wilson's role. One said such a role would be "an enormous, and perhaps, unfair burden on a prisoner". But security sources said they were expecting the IRA to put up a "smokescreen".
Two priests from Clonard monastery in West Belfast, who set up a secret communications channel between the IRA and the Irish government in the early 1990s, could become involved in the talks.
The IRA is considering asking Fr Alec Reid and Fr Gerry Reynolds to act as independent decommissioning verifiers.
Republicans describe Wilson as one of the most respected IRA leaders and a moderate voice among hardliners.
He was jailed for 24 years in 1991 after being caught with a car bomb in Belfast City centre.
In the mid-1980s, Wilson joined the IRA Belfast brigade staff. His closest ally was David Adams, the cousin of Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams.
As head of its so-called Civil Administration Team, or punishment squad, Wilson had the power over life and death, sanctioning vicious attacks on petty criminals and taking charge of the hunt for Special Branch informers. One he uncovered was Martin McGartland.
In 1991, suspicion fell on McGartland after operations he was involved in were either foiled by the security forces or had to be abandoned because of defective weapons.
McGartland, then aged 21, had spent the previous two years working with Davy Adams, and also in the pay of Special Branch.
One August morning he was called to a meeting with Wilson.
After clearance from his handlers, McGartland went to Connolly House on Andersonstown Road, Sinn Fein's Northern Ireland HQ.
But Wilson was not present and McGartland was taken to a flat in the Twinbrook estate where he later jumped 40ft from a third floor window to cheat death at the hands of an IRA execution team.
Within months, Wilson was caught with an undercar booby trap bomb and sent to the Maze.
He gave the first insight into IRA thinking on disarmament a year ago in a letter to a Belfast newspaper. It said he believed that "voluntary decommissioning" could happen once political institutions were in place.
Now the world holds its breath to see if decommissioning will go through before the May 2000 deadline.
Link; http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_19991205/ai_n14497588/
Padraig (Podraig) Wilson IRA terrorist and Martin McGartland the undercover agent inside the IRA
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
IRA ARMS CHIEF SENTENCED ME TO DIE
A KEY figure in the Northern Ireland peace process is today named by former Special Branch agent Martin McGartland as the IRA punishment chief who ordered his execution.
Padraig Wilson, who is set to lead the IRA team negotiating disarmament, headed the terrorist organisation's intelligence and discipline operations in Belfast in the mid-1980s.
McGartland, who infiltrated the IRA on the Special Branch's behalf, reveals in the Sunday Mirror today how he went to meet Wilson at Sinn Fein headquarters in 1991 - but was faced, instead, with a punishment squad
who took him away for interrogation and execution. He escaped by jumping from a third-floor window.
Related Results
Wilson, 42, still a prisoner at the Maze but is expected to be released within weeks, was elected to handle the decommissioning talks at an IRA Army Council meeting two weeks ago in the Irish Republic.
Wilson is said to have met Canadian General John de Chastelain, head of the International Decommissioning Commission, in Dundalk yesterday, to start talks on handing over weapons.
Sinn Fein officials refused to confirm Wilson's role. One said such a role would be "an enormous, and perhaps, unfair burden on a prisoner". But security sources said they were expecting the IRA to put up a "smokescreen".
Two priests from Clonard monastery in West Belfast, who set up a secret communications channel between the IRA and the Irish government in the early 1990s, could become involved in the talks.
The IRA is considering asking Fr Alec Reid and Fr Gerry Reynolds to act as independent decommissioning verifiers.
Republicans describe Wilson as one of the most respected IRA leaders and a moderate voice among hardliners.
He was jailed for 24 years in 1991 after being caught with a car bomb in Belfast City centre.
In the mid-1980s, Wilson joined the IRA Belfast brigade staff. His closest ally was David Adams, the cousin of Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams.
As head of its so-called Civil Administration Team, or punishment squad, Wilson had the power over life and death, sanctioning vicious attacks on petty criminals and taking charge of the hunt for Special Branch informers. One he uncovered was Martin McGartland.
In 1991, suspicion fell on McGartland after operations he was involved in were either foiled by the security forces or had to be abandoned because of defective weapons.
McGartland, then aged 21, had spent the previous two years working with Davy Adams, and also in the pay of Special Branch.
One August morning he was called to a meeting with Wilson.
After clearance from his handlers, McGartland went to Connolly House on Andersonstown Road, Sinn Fein's Northern Ireland HQ.
But Wilson was not present and McGartland was taken to a flat in the Twinbrook estate where he later jumped 40ft from a third floor window to cheat death at the hands of an IRA execution team.
Within months, Wilson was caught with an undercar booby trap bomb and sent to the Maze.
He gave the first insight into IRA thinking on disarmament a year ago in a letter to a Belfast newspaper. It said he believed that "voluntary decommissioning" could happen once political institutions were in place.
Now the world holds its breath to see if decommissioning will go through before the May 2000 deadline.
Link; http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_19991205/ai_n14497588/
Saturday, July 5, 1997
Northumbria Police puts Martin McGartland in danger
Northumbria Police puts Martin McGartland in danger
============================================================================
Court clears top IRA mole
21 May 1997
Britain's former top IRA spy was last night making a fresh bid to start a new life, after being cleared by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court, of trying to pervert the course of justice. Mr Martin McGartland, 27, who has lived under the name of Martin Ashe for the last six years, had claimed he was in fear of a terrorist death squad when he used duplicate driving licences to avoid a ban. The jury took just 10 minutes to find the author of Fifty Dead Men Walking, which is fast becoming a best seller, not guilty at the end of a five-day trial. Later, it was made clear he would be moving away from Tyneside, and the legal firm which represented him issued a statement criticising the moves which brought him to court and exposed him to danger from the IRA. It read: ''It is Mr McGartland's view that the prosecution should never have been brought in light of his services to the public in Northern Ireland. ''The prosecution has exposed him to further danger, which his resettlement on the mainland was meant to avoid. ''Mr McGartland believes that the prosecution was brought with total disregard for his own safety, and that the Crown showed no insight into the real and imagined dangers encountered by those living in the shadow of the IRA.'' The trial took place in secret after his barrister, Mr Glen Gatland, applied to Judge Denis Orde to make an order banning publication of proceedings until the end, as it was feared the IRA might try to target the court. During the trial the court was told that after fleeing Ulster, where it is claimed he helped save 50 lives by passing on secrets to the police, he became convinced he was being followed by potential assassins. Almost every time he speeded away to elude them he was stopped by police, and he used duplicate driving licences to escape a ban after totting up 12 speeding points in the summer of 1993. He could not reveal to police his reasons, as he feared detection. Magistrates thought he only had three points each time he appeared in court, because he handed in different licences. He was, however, on the verge of losing his licence under the totting-up procedure, and has since served a six-month ban. While in operation in Ulster, he was known as Agent Carol, and the information he passed on was from top level IRA sources, and was thought to have prevented numerous bombings and shootings, and exposed arms and explosives caches. Former Ulster intelligence gathering chief, Superintendent Ian Phoenix, who died in the Chinook helicopter crash on the Mull of Kintyre, was said to have rated him as the most successful double agent he had known. Eventually, Mr McGartland's cover was blown and he was seized by IRA gunmen in August 1991, after helping the security forces for four years. He managed to escape from a third storey window, suffering serious head injuries which left him with partial brain damage.He was then given a new identity and relocated by Special Branch. Mr McGartland has taken action against Northumbria police after learning his new name and real name were being held on file. This led to a computer programmer being sacked from the force.
Link; http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/court-clears-top-ira-mole-1.397341
============================================================================
Court clears top IRA mole
21 May 1997
Britain's former top IRA spy was last night making a fresh bid to start a new life, after being cleared by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court, of trying to pervert the course of justice. Mr Martin McGartland, 27, who has lived under the name of Martin Ashe for the last six years, had claimed he was in fear of a terrorist death squad when he used duplicate driving licences to avoid a ban. The jury took just 10 minutes to find the author of Fifty Dead Men Walking, which is fast becoming a best seller, not guilty at the end of a five-day trial. Later, it was made clear he would be moving away from Tyneside, and the legal firm which represented him issued a statement criticising the moves which brought him to court and exposed him to danger from the IRA. It read: ''It is Mr McGartland's view that the prosecution should never have been brought in light of his services to the public in Northern Ireland. ''The prosecution has exposed him to further danger, which his resettlement on the mainland was meant to avoid. ''Mr McGartland believes that the prosecution was brought with total disregard for his own safety, and that the Crown showed no insight into the real and imagined dangers encountered by those living in the shadow of the IRA.'' The trial took place in secret after his barrister, Mr Glen Gatland, applied to Judge Denis Orde to make an order banning publication of proceedings until the end, as it was feared the IRA might try to target the court. During the trial the court was told that after fleeing Ulster, where it is claimed he helped save 50 lives by passing on secrets to the police, he became convinced he was being followed by potential assassins. Almost every time he speeded away to elude them he was stopped by police, and he used duplicate driving licences to escape a ban after totting up 12 speeding points in the summer of 1993. He could not reveal to police his reasons, as he feared detection. Magistrates thought he only had three points each time he appeared in court, because he handed in different licences. He was, however, on the verge of losing his licence under the totting-up procedure, and has since served a six-month ban. While in operation in Ulster, he was known as Agent Carol, and the information he passed on was from top level IRA sources, and was thought to have prevented numerous bombings and shootings, and exposed arms and explosives caches. Former Ulster intelligence gathering chief, Superintendent Ian Phoenix, who died in the Chinook helicopter crash on the Mull of Kintyre, was said to have rated him as the most successful double agent he had known. Eventually, Mr McGartland's cover was blown and he was seized by IRA gunmen in August 1991, after helping the security forces for four years. He managed to escape from a third storey window, suffering serious head injuries which left him with partial brain damage.He was then given a new identity and relocated by Special Branch. Mr McGartland has taken action against Northumbria police after learning his new name and real name were being held on file. This led to a computer programmer being sacked from the force.
Link; http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/court-clears-top-ira-mole-1.397341
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