It stinks to high heaven, says brother of cabbie murdered by UFF gang

THE brother of a taxi driver murdered by the UFF has said the PSNI’s failure to disclose information to the Police Ombudsman “stinks to high heaven”.

Father-of-two Larry Brennan was shot dead in January 1998 as he sat in his car outside a taxi depot on the upper Ormeau Road in south Belfast.

He had been told by police that he was on a loyalist hit-list. His fiancee was a Protestant, and he had been threatened by loyalist paramilitaries.

His brother Patsy believes the police investigation into the murder was thwarted by the desire to protect an informer.

Ombudsman Michael Maguire was due to release his findings on the case, but publication has been postponed following the revelation that the PSNI failed to disclose “significant sensitive information” about the UFF attack on Sean Graham’s bookies on the lower Ormeau Road in 1992. The material in question, which has since been given to the ombudsman by police, has opened up new lines of enquiry in the Brennan and other cases.

Patsy Brennan last night told the Belfast Telegraph: “I believe that the PSNI deliberately held back the information. I find it very strange that the police would find information suddenly out of nowhere. I think it was yet another cover-up, and it all stinks to high heaven. As a family we’re very disappointed that the Ombudsman’s report has been delayed, but Michael Maguire made the right call.

“To do a proper job on this and other murders, he has to have time to examine and follow up all the material.” No one has ever been convicted of the 52-yearold cabbie’s killing.

“That UFF unit in south Belfast were allowed to murder with impunity,” Mr Brennan said.

“They shot dead 20 people, including the five in Sean Graham’s bookies, and there wasn’t one conviction. That is the disgraceful reality of it all.

“We absolutely believe the lack of justice we all have suffered is because the police wanted to protect an informer, whose identity we know.”

Larry Brennan (left) was shot four times by a lone gunman as he sat outside Enterprise Taxis, where he was a driver and depot manager. He had worked there for 27 years.

He was treated at the scene by paramedics but died in the Royal Victoria Hospital. The attack took place just three months before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

The taxi driver lived in the Markets area of Belfast with his elderly mother Mary, whom he looked after.

His brother said: “My moth-

er was just heartbroken. Larry would finish about 3am, go to bed for a few hours, then get up and do all the housework for her.

“He’d do the shopping, the washing, the ironing — whatever needed done. He was just a great guy.”

Speaking after the murder, his fiancee Dorothy Creaney said the couple had been threatened by loyalist paramilitaries but had been determined to get married despite that.

Thirty years before his murder, Larry Brennan had rescued three people from a burning building in the Smithfield area of Belfast.

He was presented with an award for bravery at a ceremony in Belfast City Hall, which made front page news.

His brother added: “Larry was a gentle giant. “He hated the paramilitaries, and as my big brother, he had always warned me never to get involved with them when we were growing up.

“Apart from the loyalists who threatened him, he had no enemies. He had friends in every part of the community. Religion meant nothing to him. There wasn’t a sectarian bone in his body. His two best friends were Protestants.”

Mr Brennan said the family would not give up in their quest for justice.

“I looked up to Larry so much. He was magic,” he said.

“I’m almost 70 years old now, but I will keep on fighting for him until my dying breath. And my son has told me that when I’m gone he will continue the battle for his Uncle Larry.”