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.
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
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 dillons 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

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

Man accused of murdering teens says co-accused ‘lied’

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.

It is the prosecution case that the victims were lured to their deaths after Mr Robb allegedly made a disparaging comment about the

murder of Richard Jameson who has been described in court as a “commander of the UVF in Portadown”.

Mr Robb (19) and 18-year-old Mr McIlwaine were then driven to a remote road on the outskirts of Tandragee where they were repeatedly stabbed. They suffered multiple stab wounds including horrific injuries to their throats and stomachs.

Yesterday Mr Brown denied the friends had been drinking in his house on the night they were killed. He told Mr Justice Gillen that he and Noel Dillon had been in the house after going to a bar when there was a knock at door and he answered it to find two men looking for a party at a woman’s house.

“I said no, you’ve got the wrong house. I looked round and said ‘that’s Debbie’s house there,’ patted him on the back, says ‘right mate’ and he walked off,” Mr Brown said.

Previously Burcombe had claimed the pair were invited into the house for a drink but Mr Brown told Mr McCrudden the “two boys” who called did not come over the door.

During his evidence Burcombe, from the Ballynahinch Road in Lisburn, also told the court he saw Mr Brown stab Mr McIlwaine, that Mr Brown threatened to “cut his throat” if he told anyone and also that while at a court appearance at Newry, Mr Brown told him to allege that two men “lifted” him before ordering him to implicate Mr Brown in the murders or his family would be shot.

Asked about those allegations, Mr Brown said Burcombe’s evidence was “lies” as he had not been with him on the night of the murders.

He claimed the story from Newry Court was actually the other way around in that Burcombe had told him he had been “lifted” had a gun put in his mouth and ordered to implicate him.

Mr Brown admitted that when initially questioned by police, he had not mentioned having a drink with Burcombe the day after the murders and claimed he had not done so for fear that Burcombe was “a UVF man” and if he was then arrested, “I would have been shot”.

Under cross-examination from Gordon Kerr QC prosecuting, Mr Brown claimed the fact that tyre tracks which were found at the bloody scene which were similar to those on his Peugeot 205 car was a “coincidence”.

However, he conceded that he had no explanation as to how his blood and his DNA extracted from it were found on Mr McIlwaine’s body or how pieces of plastic found at the scene matched other pieces found outside his home Mr Brown did admit that Richard Jameson had been a friend of his, that he had associated in bars and with people who were “loosely associated” with the UVF and that he had been to various loyalist “do’s”.

The trial continues.

Suspect Steven Leslie Brown was interviewed by police investigating the murders of Portadown teenagers Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine, three days after their mutilated bodies were discovered on an isolated road in Tandragee.

Brown, also known as Steven Leslie Revels and from Castle Place in Castlecaulfield, was arrested on February 23, 2000.

INVOLVEMENT

He was taken to Armagh police station where he was questioned about suspected involvement in the murders of Andrew (19) and 18-year old David.

During interviews Brown told police that after finishing work on Friday, February 19, he went for a few drinks at several bars in Tandragee before going home to Sinton Park with his girlfriend’s brother, Noel Dillon.

The accused said he and Noel drank a carry-out at the house and when questioned about what happened in the early hours of Saturday, February 20, Brown said that around 3am two young men called at his door looking for a party.

Brown then claimed that he told the two men, who the police say were Andrew and David, they had the wrong house and advised them they were looking for the house next door.

When Brown was asked if there had been any physical contact between him and either of the callers, the accused told police, “I patted one of them on the back as he was walking away and said ‘you have the wrong house mate’ then he went on. I don’t remember which one I patted on the back.”

Brown also told police he first became aware of the murders of Andrew and David on the morning of Saturday, February 20, when he read about it on Teletext.

He was also asked by police why he thought he had been arrested in connection with the cut-throat murders. He replied by saying he was new to the area and a number of houses in Tandragee, including his, had been searched.

QUESTIONS

As the interviews progressed on February 23, 2000, Brown refused to answer a series of questions put to him by police, including allegations of UVF involvement in the murders, whether he had been told to keep his mouth shut, whether he was in fear of anyone or was being intimidated – or if he was “an innocent agent caught up in something”.

Brown spent a period of time in police custody but was subsequently released. He was re-arrested in November 2005 after two people came forward implicating him in the murders.

During police interviews four years ago, Brown made no reply to most of the questions put to him.

The DNA of a man accused of murdering Portadown teenagers Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine was found on the heavily bloodstained jacket of one of the young victims, a court heard yesterday.

Steven Leslie Brown, who is also known as Steven Revels, is currently standing trial at Belfast Crown Court for the murders of Andrew and David. The 28-year old from Castle Place in Castlecaulfield denies the charges.

The pair were lured from a house in Tandragee and taken to a country road on the outskirts of the town where they were stabbed to death in the early hours of February 19, 2000.

Forensic experts gave evidence at yesterday’s hearing when it emerged DNA matching that of Brown was found in two bloodstains on David’s jacket. Andrew’s blood was also found on David’s jeans, prompting a forensic expert to conclude Andrew (19) was bleeding before David (18) was attacked and the blood was transferred from one victim to the other “from the weapon or the attacker.”

Colette Quinn, a senior scientific officer with the Northern Ireland forensic science laboratory, re-examined items linked to the murder in 2005 which were initially examined in 2000.

Among them were a jacket David was wearing and a red Peugeot 205 which at the time was owned by Brown.

Ms Quinn said several of the bloodstains on the jacket were tested, adding “DNA from two spots of projected blood found on the left front of the jacket” matched that of Brown.

She also told the court that a search of the Peugeot, including numerous swabs, was conducted. Ms Quinn revealed: “No DNA, blood, fibres or hairs linked Mr Robb or Mr McIlwaine to the Peugeot 205.”

In my time at Brownlow College I have achieved a lot and have become an asset to the school with reference to Sport.  I have become very confident because I am good at a lot of things and have become very popular as a result of this.  I am Captain of my Sports House in school and I am the school Football Team Captain which means the rest of the pupils who are involved in football and athletics look up to me for support and inspiration.

Because I am good at art I was chosen for the position of Marketing Director in the school Business Studies Mini Company.  Art has also had me entered into competitions outside school and I was awarded £50 for designing Lurgan United’s badge for their football strip.

In my first year I sang in the school Variety Concert and was quite good.  In my last year of Brownlow I have found that even though I don’t know everyone in school, everybody knows me and people will speak to me who I don’t even know.  I am in that category of people who are the life of the school, who are always joking, cheering people up and just having a good time.  I get on with all the pupils, teachers and caretakers and am very rarely in trouble.

I am interested in lots of things, music, sport, art, television, hanging out with mates, going out with girls, going to discos and even school.

I am very keen on continuing on at school, completing my GCSE’s and going on to do further education and University.

I am confident I can make my way into the Smirnoff Irish League with a football team because at the moment I am doing well with the team I am playing for now.

Outside school I have been involved in a few activities.

I have played for a few football teams including Lurgan Town Under 13’s, Portadown Boys Under 14’s, Sunnyside Under 16’s and at the moment I am playing for Lurgan Institute Colts Under 16’s.

I have been involved with a Cross-Community group witih Drumgor Youth Club co-operating with Tagnaven.

In school I have achieved a lot over the years.  In Primary school I was the Overall sports day winner every year.  I was the only P5 pupil to play for the football team and when I got to P7 I was named Captain.

In Brownlow College I won the medal for Overall Sports Person in my year and a Shield for Overall winner in the school.  I won it the following year as well.

I entered the Variety Concert with three other boys this year and sang.