Motion from Independent Cllr receives Unanimous support for review into the case of the Craigavon 2

[Antóin Mac Comháin]

Last evening a motion proposed by cllr Francis Timmons at South Dublin County Council November meeting received unanimous support. The motion was as follows

"That this Council supports the calls for the Criminal Cases Review Commission in Britain to investigate the case of the Craigavon 2 (Brendan McConville and John Paul Wotton) as a miscarriage of justice in the hope that they will send the case back to the British courts for a fresh appeal. This Council acknowledges that the case of the Craigavon 2 requires significant re-examination due to concerns about how the convictions were achieved. This Council also calls on the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney TD to bring this issue to the attention of his British government as a matter of urgency."

 

[Antóin Mac Comháin]

 

[Mushroom]

This Council also calls on the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney TD to bring this issue to the attention of his British government as a matter of urgency."

Oh dear. Brainfart!

Great man though he undoubtedly is, Simon Coveney doesn't own the British Government! That would be Arlene Foster!

 

[Antóin Mac Comháin]

Oh dear. Brainfart!

Great man though he undoubtedly is, Simon Coveney doesn't own the British Government! That would be Arlene Foster!

No. They own him. There shouldn't be a capital U in the OP either. Is dyslexia a crime?

 

[Antóin Mac Comháin]

 

[Antóin Mac Comháin]

Oh dear. Brainfart!

Great man though he undoubtedly is, Simon Coveney doesn't own the British Government! That would be Arlene Foster!

''Today we have seen bias and lack of objectivity from both the BBC radio's Talk Back programme and the Belfast Telegraph.

The Belfast Telegraph ran an interview with Kate Carroll, widow of constable Stephen Carroll, expressing rage at the concerns expressed by Declan Kearney regarding the Craigavon Two convictions. Kate claimed that having sat through all the evidence in court that the convictions of the Craigavon Two were beyond doubt.

While we do not want to exacerbate the hurt Mrs Carroll has suffered we must point out that she has been quoted in past articles and interviews as stating she "did not know what roll Brendan or John Paul had played" going on to say she "knew they did not pull the trigger". Indeed the Belfast Telegraph ran an article during the appeal with the headline - "Jailed man John Paul Wootton not linked to murder of officer Stephen Carroll" ( Hardly the irrefutable evidence Bel-Tel readers where led to believe! ). With this in mind it is very biased journalism not to raise the contradictions this article has thrown up or ask the opinions of those who believe the case to be a miscarriage of justice.'' - Justice for the Craigavon Two - Home | Facebook

So should they be in prison? Well, there are certainly some unsatisfactory aspects to their case.

* They were tried and convicted, not by a jury of their peers, but a Diplock court. Whatever reasons may be advanced for having a Diplock court, it does fly in the face of justice as we’d normally conceive it.

* A tracking device attached by MI5 to Wootton’s car placed him at the scene of the crime at the time of the killing. There were blanks on the tracking device, however. These were explained to the court by an anonymous MI5 agent as due to the fact that he he had left it on his desk and someone had moved and then replaced it without his knowledge.

* A brown coat, central to the prosecution case, had particles of gun powder residue on it. These didn’t match the rifle or ammunition used in the killing of Constable Carroll. Nor did it have any DNA, fibres or fingerprints belonging to Wootton.

* Evidence that might have supported the defence team was kept from them by use of Public Interest Immunity Orders.

* An anonymous eyewitness known as M offered testimony but M’s partner did not support his story, saying that he was with her that night.

* A witness who had made a sworn affidavit that M was a compulsive liar and a Walter-Mitty type was arrested by the PSNI. - https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwio5orP_r7XAhVqKsAKHTEYBQQQFghTMAc&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.judecollins.com%2F2014%2F06%2Fcraigavon-two-contemporary-gerry-conlon%2F&usg=AOvVaw3mY85Ob1oAX1h22UGASFgS

Do any of the other details of the case strike you as a bit odd? BTW - Collins is a Unionist.

 

[Antóin Mac Comháin]

The Craigavon Two - Eight years of silence - Republican News

Dublin City Council this week passed a motion calling for the release of Brendan McConville and John Paul Wootton, victims of a miscarriage of justice in March 2009.

“This is a human rights issue and not one of political ideology,” it said. “The continued imprisonment of these two men cast a shadow over the judicial system in the six counties.”

Gavin O’Reilly takes a fresh look at the case.

Maintaining the status quo

To gain an understanding on why the silence has been so deafening in this case, one simply has to look at the attack on Stephen Carroll in a wider context.

Two nights prior to his killing, the Real IRA gunned down two British soldiers at Massereene Barracks in Antrim. Along with Stephen Carroll, these were the first members of the Crown Forces to be executed by Republicans since 1997. As a result, Britain’s attempts to normalise their continued occupation of Ireland (as part of the aforementioned ‘peace process’) were thrown into disarray. To the outside world, it appeared that the IRA were back, and they meant business. Britain needed a scapegoat, and quick.

This is where Brendan McConville and John Paul Wootton came into the equation. Despite there being no credible evidence to link either to the attack, the mere fact they were two local Republicans made them the perfect Patsy for the security services. This in turn brings me onto the next point, which could be the most sinister part of the case altogether.

Britain’s dirty war

During the trial of the Craigavon Two, it emerged that a tracking device had been placed on John Paul Wootton’s car. It had been placed there by the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, a clandestine unit of the British Army, deployed to the North of Ireland to carry out surveillance on known Republicans.

This went against the narrative that ‘peace’ had returned to the North, as the use of secretive military units harked back to the days of collusion with Loyalist death squads. In a disturbing turn of events it was also divulged that key information had been deleted from the device, despite the fact it was held in a secure military facility. This again was an example of Britain’s ‘dirty war’ in Ireland. - republican-news.org/current/news/2017/07/_dublin_city_council_this.html

They know they have the wrong men. They were scapegoated to protect Agents. There is no other plausible explanation.

 

[between the bridges]

McConville, formerly of Glenholme Avenue in the town, and Wootton, from Lurgan, were also convicted of possession of an AK47 assault rifle and ammunition with intent to endanger life.

Wootton was also found guilty of attempting to collect information likely to be of use to terrorists.

Earlier, at the Court of Appeal, Director of Public Prosections Barra McGrory had argued that both men's jail terms were unduly lenient.

He said that a deterrent element should be considered for the killing of an on-duty police officer by those seeking to terrorise the community for political or ideological motives.

Stephen Carroll murder: John Paul Wootton's minimum jail term increased - BBC News

Throw the key away...

 

[Antóin Mac Comháin]

During the trial of the Craigavon Two, it emerged that a tracking device had been placed on John Paul Wootton’s car. It had been placed there by the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, a clandestine unit of the British Army, deployed to the North of Ireland to carry out surveillance on known Republicans.

In a disturbing turn of events it was also divulged that key information had been deleted from the device, despite the fact it was held in a secure military facility. - republican-news.org/current/news/2017/07/_dublin_city_council_this.html

* A brown coat, central to the prosecution case, had particles of gun powder residue on it. These didn’t match the rifle or ammunition used in the killing of Constable Carroll. Nor did it have any DNA, fibres or fingerprints belonging to Wootton. - https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwio5orP_r7XAhVqKsAKHTEYBQQQFghTMAc&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.judecollins.com%2F2014%2F06%2Fcraigavon-two-contemporary-gerry-conlon%2F&usg=AOvVaw3mY85Ob1oAX1h22UGASFgS

McConville, formerly of Glenholme Avenue in the town, and Wootton, from Lurgan, were also convicted of possession of an AK47 assault rifle and ammunition with intent to endanger life.

Throw the key away...

entrapment - the action of tricking someone into committing a crime in order to secure their prosecution.

Throw the evidence away first,
Then set a kid up for a murder charge..