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

Politicians will also need to sit up and take notice,I dread to think how many i have spoken to over the years most of which have offered little help and in some cases blatantly done nothing. The old saying is that ” the worst thing for the good to do is to do nothing” that covers the good ,then we have the downright useless and bordering on disgraceful who promised the earth knowing fine well they had no intentions of fulfilling them ,I Would have said honouring but these politicians have no honour. It seems i find myself in a position almost in isolation as I cant get help from unionists because they wont support anyone who speaks out against the police and it has been noticeable the lack of interest from sinn feinever since Hughe  Orde let it slip on the 22/06/09 that a firm with links to republican terrorists is receiving government contracts to work on P.S.N.I. bases. I had a meeting before Christmas with Jim Allister thinking that he would be outraged and that he would address this with vigor, when I arrived at his office he had a journalist and photographer from the Irish News waiting for the story but when I started talking about terrorists and contracts  and stated that not only was it a former republican getting contracts but a loyalist family from Portadown also he seemed to turn off his interest,I am still waiting for a reply!

Basil Mccrea is dealing with this issue at the moment after forgetting to get back to me for nearly a year,and I hope this will be a turning point for Unionist Politicians.

At this moment in time i am awaiting two answers to Freedom Of Information requests, reports from the police Ombudsman on four complaints, a decision from the information commissioner and the upcoming appeal from Revels in April.

Thanks for taking the time to read this stuff and as always stay tuned as I will be putting names ,paramilitary status and believed involvement with these murders and other crimes on site.

Anyone with information ring me on 07787402595. God bless.Paul Mcilwaine.

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.

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.