Why they didn’t quiz him over this village blast that killed 9
POLICE dropped an investigation into Martin McGuinness’ alleged role in a notorious IRA attack known as ‘Bloody Monday’ because it would have been too politically sensitive, it was claimed yesterday.
Detectives reportedly wanted to question the former IRA chief of staff over the 1972 Claudy bombings in which nine people, including an eight-year-old girl, died.
But senior officers at the Police Service of Northern Ireland ordered that the investigation be closed down in about 2007 – the year Mr McGuinness became Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister – because of his key role in the peace process, the Daily Telegraph claimed.
In one of the worst outrages of the Troubles, three bombs were set off on Monday July 31, 1972 in the village of Claudy, near Londonderry. Among the nine victims was eightyear-old Kathryn Eakin, who had been sent by her mother to wash the windows of the family shop.
The Provisional IRA denied responsibility at the time, and Mr McGuinness – then second in command of its Derry brigade – later condemned it as ‘appalling and indefensible’.
But in 2010 an eight-year investigation by the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland revealed a high- level cover- up of claims that a Catholic priest and alleged
member of the IRA had been involved in the bombing.
A source told the Telegraph: ‘There was an appetite among a number of PSNI detectives to pursue the case against McGuinness over his role in the Claudy bombings. But when they approached senior officers they were told point blank: “We are not prosecuting Martin McGuinness.”
‘It was felt by the top brass of the PSNI that it would have been simply too damaging to the peace process.’
That contrasts with the treatment of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, who was questioned for four days in 2014 over the murder of Jean McConville in Belfast in 1972 before prosecutors decided that no charges would be brought against him.
At the time, Mr McGuinness said he was ‘furious’ at the arrest of Mr Adams, who voluntarily presented himself for interview, branding the move ‘political policing’ and threatening to withdraw Republican support for the PSNI if he was charged.
Mr Adams has always denied giving the order to ‘ disappear’ Mrs McConville – a Catholic mother- of-ten wrongly branded an informant – and spoke of anti-Sinn Fein ‘elements’ within the police.
The 2010 report into the Claudy bombing revealed the prime suspect was Father James Chesney, believed to be the commander of an active IRA terrorist unit.
It found that detectives were blocked from arresting him after a secret deal between police chiefs and the Catholic hierarchy and he was allowed to moved to a parish in the Republic of Ireland where he died eight years later. No one has ever been convicted over the attack. The PSNI said last night that four people were arrested in 2005 but prosecutors decided not to press charges. It added that it was looking into the claims of a cover-up.
Following the death of Mr McGuinness on Tuesday, Kathryn’s brother Mark, now 57, revealed that the former IRA man had spoken to him to express his ‘sympathy’ over the killings. Saying he could never forgive Mr McGuinness, he told the Belfast Telegraph: ‘I wouldn’t forgive anyone for committing or condoning murder.’