None of those arrested last year in connection with the so called IRA spy ring at Stormont are to be charged in relation to the targeting of prison officers, the Sunday Tribune has learned. Nor are any of them to be charged with IRA membership.
The Northern Ireland Office earlier this month agreed to pay millions of pounds towards extra security for the homes of the 1,400 prison officers whose details were allegedly found on an IRA targeting list during the "Stormontgate" operation in October 2002.
The deal came after prison officers across the UK threatened to go on strike in support of their NI colleagues. NI prison officers HAVE been subjected to paramilitary attacks in recent times – by loyalists. Loyalists injured 18 officers when they went on the rampage at Maghaberry prison just over a week ago.
The charges which are to be put to Denis Donaldson, Ciaran Kearney and William Mackessy at a preliminary hearing on 4 February are significantly less substantial than the authorities previously indicated. The executive at Stormont collapsed over the affair in October 2002 after unionists refused to continue to share power with Sinn Féin. British PM, Tony Blair suspended the assembly.
The dramatic collapse of the North's government followed a series of PSNI raids on the homes of Donaldson, Kearney, Mackessy and Fiona Farrelly, and on Sinn Féin's offices at Stormont. The PSNI announced it had uncovered a high level IRA spy ring. The then First Minister, UUP leader David Trimble, said the affair was "bigger than Watergate."
Police visited the homes of the 1,400 prison officers to inform them that their details had been found and that they should consider themselves at risk from the IRA.
It was subsequently alleged during a bail hearing that a laptop computer found at the West Belfast home of Farrelly contained the list, and that she told police Kearney had left it there. All charges against Farrelly, who had protested her innocence, were dropped in December 2003.
A civil servant who worked at Stormont was arrested in November 2002 in what was seen as a linked case. Unionists saiad there were "huge implications for the peace process." The British NI secretary of state, Paul Murphy, said "confidence and trust in the process is undermined by issues such as this." Sinn Féin and the SDLP protested about the arrest and publicity surrounding it. The man was released without charge and has returned to work.
Donaldson, Kearney and Mackessy are charged with a range of offences including having the registration numbers of military vehicles and having details of the activities of loyalists and former members of the security forces. All three deny the charges.
There have been considerable delays by the authorities in getting the case to court. It is expected to reach trial stage next year. All the accused are on bail. Last week, the High Court granted leave to Kearney to travel abroad.
A community worker, Kearney will tomorrow travel to South Africa to speak at a conference. His lecture will be on lobbying support for policing oversight and accountability.
