IRA Suspect Letters 'Shouldn't Have Been Sent'

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By David Blevins, Ireland Correspondent

The sending of "comfort letters" to alleged fugitives as part of the Northern Ireland peace process was "questionably unlawful", according to a Commons committee.

The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee concluded that the scheme "should never have been established and developed as it was and distorted the process of justice".

Members felt the Government's own inquiry should have been wider in remit and conducted in public, and so they set up their own investigation in parallel.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was summoned to appear, told them the peace process would "probably have collapsed" without the "on-the-runs" scheme.

But the Committee found: "It is questionable whether the scheme was lawful or not but its existence distorted the legal process."

Members called on the Government to "take all necessary steps, including legislation if necessary, to ensure the letters sent to 'on-the-runs' have no legal effect".

Laurence Robertson MP, chair of the committee, said: "Our priority is to serve the victims and their relatives, whom we believe to have been let down by HM Government by the way in which this scheme has operated.

"If any scheme had been put in place at all, which is questionable, it should have been properly introduced and correctly administered. It also should have been open and transparent.

"This scheme was none of those things.

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Gallery: IRA Suspect Amnesties: Key Players

Following the Good Friday Agreement and the release of 400 loyalist and republican paramilitary prisoners, the question about what to do with on-the-run IRA suspects, wanted for crimes before April 10, 1998, continued to needle the Tony Blair Government

In 2006, Mr Blair wrote to Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams telling him the Government was working on a solution for dealing with the suspects in question

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In 2007, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), under Chief Constable Hugh Orde, launched Operation Rapid, under which they reviewed the cases of terror suspects identified by Sinn Fein and recommended amnesty letters be sent out by the Northern Ireland Office

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It was under this process that 1982 Hyde Park bombing suspect John Downey was sent a letter in 2007. The letter should never have been sent because of a Metropolitan Police warrant for his arrest. The PSNI soon realised the mistake but no action was taken

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Peter Hain, Northern Ireland Secretary until 2007, told the Old Bailey that an "administrative scheme" that had been a temporary measure for dealing with on-the-run suspects had become a formal measure

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"Regardless of the intentions, this scheme has caused further hurt to people who have suffered far too much already, and has led to further suspicions being raised.

"It is therefore very important that Operation Redfield is concluded as quickly as possible and that the government ensures that no letter provides a shield from prosecution ever again.

"That is the least people can expect, and is the minimum our Committee requires."

PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton said the force was committed to "dealing with the past professionally and comprehensively", but this needed to be balanced with "keeping people safe in the present day".

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Gallery: Hyde Park Bombing: July 1982

A police forensic officer examines the remains of the IRA car which contained the Hyde Park bomb

Images of dead horses and wrecked cars added to the shock for people reeling from the human cost of the atrocity

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He said: "We will continue to play our part and continue to encourage others to play theirs.

"Additional funding as recommended in this report would greatly assist police investigations into these cases, despite competing current financial demands.

"I want to once again apologise to the victims of the Hyde Park bomb attack and their families for the mistakes which occurred in the case of John Downey which led to his criminal trial being aborted last year.

"I apologise unreservedly for the mistakes and errors made by PSNI during the administrative process."

The controversial letters sparked a political crisis last year when they resulted in the collapse of the Hyde Park bomb trial at the Old Bailey.

Victims' families said they felt "devastatingly let down" and Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson threatened to resign and collapse the devolved government at Stormont.

John Downey, who denied murdering four soldiers in the 1982 bombing, had received a "comfort letter" in error, informing him he was no longer a "wanted" man.

His trial heard that 187 people had received similar assurances, most of them republicans who had never been charged or been convicted but then escaped.

While convicted terrorists were released early under the Good Friday Agreement, suspects on-the-run were not eligible so Sinn Fein lobbied Tony Blair on their behalf.

Lady Justice Hallett, who conducted the government inquiry, concluded that the Downey letter had been "a catastrophic mistake", but that the scheme itself was lawful.

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