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.
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.
By Barry McCaffrey
04/04/09
The full story of the brutal murders of Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine on a lonely country road nine years ago may never be known, despite Steven Brown being sent to prison for at least 30 years.
Mr McIlwaine’s father Paul McIlwaine last night welcomed the fact that his son’s killer will not be eligible for release until he is almost 60 years old.
But Mr McIlwaine snr, who described Brown as a “pebble in an ocean”, believes that at least one other person involved in the murder was protected because he is a police informer.
Brown, who at the time was known as Steven Revels, was first charged with the teen- agers’ murders in 2000 alongside mid-Ulster loyalists Mark Burcombe and Noel Dillon.
However, within months the charges were unexpectedly dropped despite the victims’ families saying they were told there was ample evidence to bring the killers to justice.
In 2005 the charges were resurrected when Burcombe, who is understood to have undergone a religious conversion, walked into a police station and confessed his role.
Dillon died in 2005 after apparently taking his own life.
In February last year the joint trial of Burcombe and Brown was dramatically hal- ted when it emerged that murder charges against Burcombe were to be dropped in exchange for him agreeing to give evidence against his
co-accused.
Burcombe later pleaded guilty to reduced charges of greivous bodily harm and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
However, he had already served the equivalent sentence while on remand. He was spirited out of Northern Ireland and is now living on a witness-protection scheme.
It was the first time that a ‘supergrass’ had been used in a Northern Ireland court in 25 years. The reintroduction of the controversial system has caused concern among victims’ families.
“I understand fully his evidence was used and was compelling as to the actions of Revels and Dillon but his own role in the murders is yet to be explored,” Mr McIlwaine
snr said.
“I don’t believe for one minute he told the complete truth and it’s an issue that will be taken up as soon as
possible.”
Loyalist sources last night confirmed Burcombe’s role as a senior figure in the mid-Ulster UVF.
He is understood to have personally driven Brown to Belfast to be sworn into the paramilitary group in 1999.
Paul McIlwaine’s campaign to bring his son’s killers to justice has also uncovered evidence that another loyalist implicated in the murders was paid £500,000 for building work on security force bases over a three-year period after the killings.
Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine had been murdered by the UVF in retaliation for the LVF killing of UVF Portadown leader Richard Jameson weeks earlier.
Despite Jameson’s well-known links to the UVF, police admitted in September 2007 that £320,000 had been paid to his building firm and to another Co Armagh contractor for work carried out on various police stations over a six-year period.
In November last year Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde publicly apologised to the families, admitting that almost
£5 million had actually been paid to the two firms.
He pledged to investigate how Jameson’s firm had won security-force building contracts, despite twice failing police vetting procedures.
It is understood that a third vetting process also resulted in rejection but was overturned on appeal by the Northern Ireland Office.
Last month Sir Hugh admitted that a total of £11 million had in fact been paid to the two Co Armagh building firms.
It is known that nearly £500,000 of this was paid to the second contractor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, despite him having been a key suspect in the teenagers’ murder.
Questioned as to how two builders with alleged links to the UVF could have received millions of pounds in government contracts, the chief constable said: “We have con- tracts with many builders, many who may have history, evidence or intelligence or whatever.
“If they get through the system I have no option but to employ them. If they are on the [NIO-approved] list it is a decision around value for money.
“If the [policing] board want to instruct me not to use A, B or C then that is fine – but I suggest that the board would need legal advice and I do think extreme care needs to be taken as to what is said in public.”
Thirty years for teenage murders |
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A man has been jailed for at least 30 years for the murders of two teenagers in County Armagh nine years ago. 28-year-old Steven Leslie Brown, also known as Steven Revels, murdered David McIlwaine, 18, and Andrew Robb, 19, in February 2000. On Friday, the judge said they “ranked amongst the most gruesome murders of the past 40 years in Northern Ireland”. Outside court, the father of David McIlwaine said he believed other people were involved in the death of his son. Paul McIlwaine added that he had asked for a meeting with Steven Brown. “I have requested to visit him in prison,” said Mr McIlwaine. “I want him to sit down, if he is willing, and talk to me about the involvement of everybody else.” Mr McIlwaine also said that, while he felt the sentence was too lenient, Brown “got exactly what he deserves”, adding the double killer’s lack of remorse was “his downfall.” Andrew Robb’s mother, Anne, said that justice “has been done”. “I think it has been done, yes, but I think he should have got the full life term because I have been given a full life term,” she said. ‘Mindless violence’ The judge, Mr Justice Gillen, said the murders were “cold-blooded and barbaric”. He told Brown: “The post-mortems on the bodies of these two teenagers bear silent testimony to the sadistic manner in which you and your accomplice brought about their deaths. “These crimes were so horrendous that they offered no insight into human nature or the recurring pattern of human behaviour. “Civilised reason can furnish no explanation for them. They represent unbridled mindless violence and total disregard for the value and dignity of human life.” Much of the evidence in the trial came from Mark Burcombe, who was present when the teenagers were killed. Burcombe, from Ballynahinch Road in Lisburn, was initially charged with the murders, but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge after agreeing to give evidence against Brown. He was jailed in 2008 for two-and-a-half-years. The murder trial heard that Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine were drinking with Brown, Burcombe and Noel Dillon, who has since killed himself. ‘Horrific injuries’ Andrew Robb is said to have made disparaging remarks about Richard Jameson, the alleged UVF commander, gunned down by the LVF two weeks previously. A Crown lawyer said Brown “took unkindly” to the remarks, and drove the group to an isolated country road outside Tandragee where the friends were repeatedly stabbed, suffering horrific injuries to their throats and stomachs. Giving evidence to the court, Burcombe claimed he saw Brown repeatedly stab David McIlwaine as he lay on the ground and, that afterwards, Brown threatened that if he told anyone, he would cut Burcombe’s throat. Burcombe admitted he had not told the police the whole truth when he first came forward in November 2005, after the murders were featured in the BBC’s Crimewatch programme, but denied he was lying to cover up his own role. He also denied suggestions by Brown’s defence that he made up his testimony at the behest of the UVF in order to frame Brown. The prosecution case against Brown also included a “confession” to a woman known only as witness F, and forensic evidence showing that two tyre tread marks at the scene of the murders matched two tyres on Brown’s Peugeot 205 car. It was also said that pieces of green plastic found at the scene matched the top of an aerosol canister found outside Brown’s house; and Brown’s DNA was found on David McIlwaine’s jacket. Neither teenager was connected to any paramilitary group. |
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Double killer fails in impact bid |
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Lawyers for a man convicted of killing two teenagers have failed in a bid to have a victim impact statement edited. Steven Brown’s barrister applied for extracts to be removed ahead of his sentencing on Friday for the murder of Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine. In the statement David’s father, Paul, described Brown as “void of human emotion, a sociopath”. Lord Justice Girvan said the statements helped the bereaved express their hurt, without influencing sentencing. Defence had stressed there was no suggestion the trial judge, Mr Justice Gillen, would be prejudiced, but said the interests of justice could be “threatened in future” if it was allowed in unchecked. Brown, 28, also known as Steven Revels, of Castle Place, Castlecaulfied, was found guilty last month of stabbing to death Andrew Robb, 19, and 18-year-old David McIlwaine. The victims’ bodies were dumped near Tandragee in February 2000. In his statement, Paul McIlwaine also called for the maximum possible penalty. The application went before Lord Justice Girvan, who acted as a satellite judge in the case dealing with disclosure issues. Dismissing the application, he also emphasised Mr Justice Gillen’s experience as a trial judge. “I’m quite satisfied he is perfectly capable of reaching the correct conclusions in relation to the admissibility of this victim impact (statement),” he said. He said that the defence have a safeguard after sentence was imposed “as they have the right to seek leave to appeal”. Outside the High Court, where the application was heard, Mr McIlwaine expressed relief at the judge’s remarks. “I thought the whole point of a victim impact statement was to put your feelings down,” he said. “It’s up to the judge to decide whether it’s right or wrong.” |
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Hello, we are due back in court this week to here the tariff set by judge Gillen. We expect this to be a severe and lengthy penalty, so fingers crossed.
I am meeting the police Ombudsman on Tuesday this week to discuss their findings and I have some issues still to be resolved. Keep a watch on the site and news, I will keep you all informed.
By the way if you go into the picture gallery you will see the latest post regarding graffiti that was put up in a place just outside Tandragee on the night the verdict was given, some interesting names and comments. Bye for now …..Paul McIlwaine.
hello everyone,well the verdict is in and we are delighted with the judges decision.this evil young man will be going away for a very long time.perhaps he will have a long hard think about the so called friends who in his mind were on his side but in actual fact were his downfall.he should look closer to home as there were elements acting against him from the outset.
we have always said that he was a key suspect one of a number of evil people involved.what i have to do now is plan the strategy and seek legal advice to move to the next stepping stone.
it was business as usual this week with meetings of the police ombudsman and the policing board ,very uncomfortable for sir hughe orde raising the question of collusion over security force contracts being given to known terrorist linked firms.
at the policing board i was approached by both Ian paisley junior and basil mccrea congratulating me on the verdict .paisley when i told him it was no thanks to the unionist politicians and that it was noticeable that the dup had never raised the question or supported other members of the board when asking about these contracts,his reply was “that question in there ,never would i ask that in there maybe in private but not in public” a shocking reply although not surprising to which i said “thats the problem with the unionists they want to bury everything but i dont want “buried “there has been too much of that already”
basil mccrea was another unionist who promised to set up an urgent meeting prior to mark(uvf supergrass)burcombe being sentenced and failed to do so,i couldnt beleive he had the nerve to approach me having blatantly avoided me to date.
well i just wanted to say thanks to all of you for your support and keep visiting the site as i will have much more to say and do.
thankyou,paul mcilwaine
hello all,thanks for all your comments .its been 9 long years and the trial finished a week ago so its a nervous wait now as the judge makes his decision .the trial was very distressing and disturbing ,its hard to beleive there’s people who can do these barbaric acts ,but i have always had faith and the truth will come out .thank you all for your most welcomed support and i will keep you updated .paul mcilwaine.
BY Staff Reporter
03/02/09
A MAN accused of stabbing two teenage friends to death has declared that he “definitely” had nothing to do with their killings.
Giving evidence at Belfast Crown Court for the second day, John McCrudden QC, defending, asked Steven Brown if he had played “any hand, act or part” in the murders of
Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine but was told firmly: “Definitely not.”
Mr Brown, also known as Steven Revels, claimed that the evidence of his one-time co-accused-turned-supergrass Mark Burcombe was “lies”.
The 28-year-old, from Castle Place in Castlecaulfield, denies murdering the teenagers on February 19 2000. More →
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