THIS is the last journey of
UVF child killer John Sin-
ton, the man who ordered
the revenge murders of two
teenage boys.
On Tuesday, former UVF
Tandragee commander John
Sinton was given a low key funer-
al in his Co. Armagh home town.
A chief undertaker dressed in top
hat and carrying an umbrella led
the cortege from the church service.
Sinton died last Friday, January 15,
after a lengthy battle against bowel
cancer.
“He suffered very badly in the end.
He was in terrible pain,” one source in
Tandragee told us.
Around 70 people turned up in
Tandragee for the service in the centre
of the town where 49-year-old Sinton
once ruled the roost for the UVF.
Among them was the UVF’s current
Mid-Ulster brigadier Ian ‘Mutley’
Stewart and a number of members of the
Orange Order in Co. Armagh district.
Stewart replaced Richard Jameson as
the UVF’s Mid Ulster brigadier after
the LVF shot him dead in January 2000
during a bloody loyalist feud.
Also in attendance at the funeral
was Sinton’s girlfriend of more than a
decade Wendy Whittle.
Wendy Whittle gave Sinton an alibi
for the night of the horrific Tandragee
murders.
“It was very low key given who Sinton
had been in the UVF,” said a source.
“He hadn’t many friends in the UVF
in Mid-Ulster but he was still well
thought of with east Belfast UVF
although none of them turned up.”
FriendsOne death notice placed in the
Belfast Telelgraph read: “Deeply
regretted by Jim Lowry and all your
friends from the Cosy Bar, east Belfast.
The Lord is my Shepherd.”
One of those who bravely mingled
among the mourners was Paul McIlwaine,
the still grieving father of David
McIlwaine who was butchered to death
along with his friend Andrew Robb on the
orders of Sinton nearly a decade ago.
The teenagers were knifed to death,
had their throats slit and their bodies
dumped on a lonely country road out-
side Tandragee in February 2000.
“I didn’t go to his funeral to pay my
respects or to mourn his loss in any way,”
Mr McIlwaine told the Sunday World.
“I went there to see who would turn
up at his funeral. There was probably
between 50 and 70 people at it.
“And I have to say I was totally sur-
prised to see the UVF’s Mid-Ulster
brigadier Ian ‘Mutley’ Stewart among
the mourners.
“I thought he was on the side of our
family and the Robb family in
trying to get to the truth of
what happened that night.
“Ihad thought ‘Mutley’
Stewart had finished with
Sinton but then again
maybe I am wrong. It just
took me totally by sur-
prise.”
As the mourners headed
into the local church,
around 20 men headed
into a local shop for some
afternoon refreshments.
“I joined the queue in the
shop,” Mr McIlwaine said.
“Nobody said anything
to me but I did get a
NO BIG SEND OFF FORUVF CHILD KILLERNO BIG SEND OFF FOR
UVF CHILD KILLER
few funny looks but I didn’t care.
I spent about two hours in Tandragee
that day and nobody said a word to
me.”
Steven Revels is currently serving
life for the brutal double murders with a
tariff of 30 years before he is eligible for
parole. His appeal against his conviction
and sentence will be heard this April.
Bizarrely, Burly John Sinton was nev-
er arrested or questioned by the RUC
or the PSNI even though he was the
UVF commander for Tandragee at the
time of the
killings.
He told police that 70
people would confirm
he was in Ballyshee
Orange Hall near
Tandragee on the
night murders and
didn’t leave until
between 5am and
5.30am.
However, when
the families of
Andrew Robb
and David
McIl w aine
received the
police papers,
only FIVE peo-
ple could put
him in the
hall, includ-
ing his mis-
tress Wendy
Whittle.
As Mr
McIl w aine
told us: “I am
no detective
but that does-
n’t sound like
a water tight
alibi to me.”
Eyewitnesses
also told police
that Sinton had
been seen in the pres-
ence of Andrew Robb and
David McIlwaine before
they were killed.
In a follow up search after the horrif-
ic murders, an RUC team found a New
York Yankee baseball cap at Moody
Road.
BelongedAdded Mr McIlwaine: “It is my
understanding that the cap belonged
to Sinton who bought it in America
and is not available in the U”K.
He is convinced Sinton was never
arrested because he was working for
Special Branch as an informant.
“Nobody has ever able to explain to
me how a known UVF man like John
Sinton was given security clearance
work in so many police stations,
including Gough Barracks, and his
company Ballymore Builders earn
£500,000 from these contracts.
“And nobody has ever been able to
explain how, as the UVF commander
in Tandragee, he was able to get a
legally held firearm.”
Meanwhile, police this week
smashed in the door of the former
home of Noel Dillon in Tandragee.
It followed complaints that Dillon’s
home at Montagu Street had been
flooded since the recent freezing tem-
peratures.
The house has remained boarded up
for the past five years since Dillon
committed suicide in 2005.
At the time of Noel Dillon’s death,
the property was owned by builder
John Sinton.
He was once married to Sinton’s sis-
ter Amanda and her sister Alexia was
going out with Steven Revels at the
time of the murders in 2000.
Leaders shun
funeral of man
who ordered
teens’ killings
ALIBI: Girlfriend Wendy Whittle
KILLED: Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine
TOP HAT: The hearse bearing the coffin of John Sinton (right)

Police ‘forced’ man to identify mutilated body of murdered nephew, court told

Thursday, 4 February 2010

David McIlwaine

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Police effectively forced the uncle of a teenage murder victim to identify the badly mutilated body against his will, the High Court has heard.

Alan Steele also claimed officers did not care because they wrongly believed his dead nephew, David McIlwaine, was a member of the Loyalist Volunteer Force.

Mr Steele made the allegations as part of his negligence case against the Chief Constable for psychological injuries he says were inflicted by the identification process.

His 18-year-old nephew was stabbed to death along with Andrew Robb (19) in February 2000. Their bodies were dumped by a road near Tandragee, Co Armagh.

The double killing came weeks after alleged Ulster Volunteer Force leader Richard Jameson was shot dead in nearby Portadown.

Giving evidence in his claim for damages, Mr Steele said a police sergeant had asked him to identify Mr McIlwaine because his parents could not be contacted.

It was stressed in court how Mr McIlwaine had no paramilitary or criminal connections.

Mr Steele, who told of suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, said he was still hoping the victim’s father Paul would arrive by the time he got to the mortuary.

He claimed a senior detective approached him and repeated a warning about how the parents would find out if he did not go through with the process.

“I said to him this was wrong; I shouldn’t be doing this, Paul should be doing this.

“I felt that I was stealing from Paul,” Mr Steele told the court.

“I asked him to wait for Paul. He just walked away from me.

“I was crying, I was shaking.”

Questioned by his barrister, Ronnie Bentley QC, Mr Steele alleged he was not told about the injuries inflicted on the victims.

Clearly emotional in the witness box, he recalled: “He was stabbed about the head. The head was covered in blood.

“They had cut off part of his face and I could see into his skull.

“Because he had lost so much blood it was like a skeleton.”

During cross-examination by David Ringland QC, for the Chief Constable, he denied being “obsessed” by a search for justice since the murder.

But Mr Ringland pointed to expert medical opinion which he said suggested “bitterness and seething anger” connected to Mr Steele’s belief in a police cover-up.

Mr Ringland insisted that the senior detective’s evidence would be that at the stage of identifying the bodies no paramilitary connection had been established.

Pressing further, the barrister claimed that Mr Steele had in fact volunteered to identify the teen’s body.

Mr Ringland, who also insisted the injuries were made clear to Mr Steele in advance, added: “What you have said is that you were really forced to go to the morgue.

“I have to put it to you that quite the opposite situation prevailed when you were approached.”

According to a senior mortuary technician sheets of paper were also covering the most severely part of the victims face, Mr Ringland added.

But Mr Steele insisted: “That’s an absolute lie.”

The hearing was adjourned until tomorrow.

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/police-lsquoforcedrsquo-man-to-identify-mutilated-body-of-murdered-nephew-court-told-14665633.html#ixzz0fhVTGAlp

Hello and a happy New Year to all of you who have loyally followed our story. Sorry the site was down for a while just to brief you that Stephen Brown ( aka Revels) has lodged an appeal which has been set for the 12/04/10 , this should last 4/5 days. He is appealing the conviction and the sentence.   Also John Sinton the U.V.F. commander in Tandragee and although a terrorist was being paid by the state to carry out building work on security force bases throughout Northern Ireland has died. He died a couple of weeks ago,  we believed strongly he was a paid informer and agent of the state. It may be very difficult to prove anything now in regards to him, although there are a number of others I will be persuing at any cost.   I have spoken to my legal advisors and we will be moving forward after the appeal and have a number of encouraging paths to take. I will keep you updated, thanks for your support it means a lot to us.

By the way my wife and daughter will be doing the Belfast marathon walk in May, my wife 9 miles and daughter 26.2 miles, if you would like to sponsor one or both click on the links: Susie’s Sponsor page and Abigail’s sponsor page on the Blogroll column. My wife is doing it for Macmillan and daughter for British Irish Rights Watch a human rights organisation who deal with injustice. The method of payment is fully secure and donations will be much appreciated.

Thanks again,

Paul Mcilwaine.

Hello all,
Sorry the site was down for a while but just to let you all know i will be updating it fully asap.

thanks for your very kind words it has been very difficult of late and your message was just the tonic i needed my wife will be crying buckets when she sees it.your description of david summed him up exactly i am always proud to hear of his mature caring nature and love of fellow human beings.thank you again ,take care and always look out for the one who is left on their own.god bless.

Last week i spent three days in Edinburgh with the victims forum,very easy to be sceptical of another group but i have to say i found it very useful and rewarding.for the time being i will listen and as long as i feel this is productive and has affect and providing all victims are being fully informed and heard i will give it my all.may god bless all of us the world over .paul.

Hello ,just a short update on life .I have been asked to join the new victims forum to advise the victims commissioners hopefully we can make a difference so just keep an eye on it and please send me your views as your opinions would be most helpful.thanks .paul mcilwaine.

Hello all, sorry I havent been on for a while I’ve been quite busy. I have requested a number of meetings and as far as the Unionist politicians are concerned I might as well not exist. In a meeting on the 22nd of June with the PSNI CC Hughe Orde confirmed that firms with links to both sides of terrorists groups are currently being employed to work on PSNI stations and receiving millions of pounds for it. What annoys me mostly is that one of those involved in the murder of my son David and Andrew Robb and who was the UVF commander in Tandragee, John Sinton of Ballymore Builders in 1998 he was paid by PSNI £13,000 and in 2002 two years after these murders and while a suspect, he was paid £302,000. Hughe Ordes excuse for this was that it was value for money, I find this disgraceful and intend to probe further and expose the full extent of the collusion between the state and terrorist. Also about 3weeks ago mark burcombe (supergrass and child killer) currently in a witness protection deal was arrested in tandragee for threatening to do someone in ,when asking for details of his arrest orde would not confirm or deny only to say that he could assure me that no one had been charged with intimidation in tandragee in the last 3 weeks. Anyone with any information please call me at any time on 07787402595.

 

 

 

Cold cases solved – but at what cost to justice?

Return of Supergrass Evidence
Reports: Allison Morris
16/04/09

Supergrass evidence, not used since the darkest days of the Troubles, has returned to the courts through new legislation to solve some of Northern Ireland’s cold-case murders – but this development has sparked concerns, not least from victims’ families

THE recent double murder conviction

of loyalist Steven Brown, also known as Revels, on the word of his co-accused was the first test of new legislation which saw the return of the ‘supergrass’ trial to Northern Ireland courts.

In 2005 the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act came into effect in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The recent trial into the

brutal murder of Portadown teenagers David McIlwaine (18) and Andrew Robb (19) was the first test of the act in the north, although it has previously featured in gangland trials in England.

Where the supergrass trials of the 1980s failed, the new legislation has been tightened to ensure that any convictions achieved are sound.

Earlier this month Brown received a minimum 30-year jail term for the barbaric murder of the two teenagers following evidence from former associate Mark Burcombe.

Burcombe had a charge of murder against him reduced to grievous bodily harm in return for his testimony.

He had also given details of Noel Dillon’s role in the kill-ings. Dillon died in 2005 after apparently taking his own life.

David McIlwaine’s father Paul is critical of the use of the act against his son’s murderer.

“I have no problem with the new legislation or with the

use of the legislation but I do have a serious issue with how it was used in this case,” he said.

“I still feel there was enough evidence to convict both Brown and Burcombe of murder without the need to resort to giving out prosecution

immunity.

“We were used as a test and that in itself caused its own difficulties in that the defence kept challenging different aspects of the legislation.

“This added about a month on to the trial and caused untold additional anguish to both families.

“The legislation states that to be eligible for immun-

ity a person has to give a true

account of their role and

also any previous criminal

offences.

“Burcombe didn’t do that. He covered up his own part

in the boys’ murders. The only person who gained from his testimony was him. It certain-ly wasn’t his victims’ families.

“He saved his own skin and now he will be given a new life and a new identity while we are left without justice having been completed.”

While organised gangland crime in England was a consideration when the legislation was being drawn up, Northern Ireland, with a long history of unsolved paramilitary killings, will test the new act to its limit.

In Northern Ireland only the director of public prosecutions has the power to issue an immunity notice to an offender in return for assistance.

If a reduced sentence is offered in return for assistance this must be stated in open court and details of what the greater sentence would have been must be made public.

Immunity notice is only one part of the legislation and is used only in the most serious of cases such as murder.

Restriction from prosecution is more common. In that case evidence will not be used to prosecute the offender providing it. However, he or she can be charged if new evidence comes to light.

The act contains an agreement to provide assistance.

This provision can allow an offender a slightly reduced sentence for assisting police and is more commonly used in less serious crimes.