Hyde Park bomb suspect enjoys the quiet life
Anger as former IRA man has idyllic retirement while British veterans still face Troubles inquiries
THE IRA’S Hyde Park bombing suspect is living in a smart beach-front home, having transferred ownership to his wife after being sued over the atrocity.
Relatives of the murdered soldiers spoke of their disgust that John Downey, acquitted after receiving a “comfort” letter, is able to enjoy his retirement while, in contrast, Army veterans of the Troubles remain under criminal investigation.
The Daily Telegraph tracked Mr Downey, 66, down to his newly built, four-bedroom house with its own private beach in County Donegal, Ireland.
Irish land registry documents show that Mr Downey removed his name from ownership of the house, worth £300,000, on June 7 last year, just as lawyers for victims of the Hyde Park bombing were mounting a civil case against him.
Mr Downey, who denied any responsibility, was charged in 2013 with murdering four members of the Household Cavalry after a nail bomb was detonated in Hyde Park on July 20 1982. A second bomb exploded under the bandstand at Regent’s Park shortly after, killing seven military bandsmen.
Mr Downey walked free from the Old Bailey in 2014 after it emerged he had received a so-called “comfort” letter dating back to 2007 as part of the Good Friday Agreement peace deal. The judge ruled that it guaranteed he would not face trial and that to proceed was an abuse of executive power.
Sarah-jane Young, whose father Lance Corporal Jeffrey Young was murdered at Hyde Park, said yesterday: “It’s appalling and disgusting. He is the chief suspect in my father’s death but is able to enjoy his retirement. It makes me upset that the Government have been treating our boys like this by allowing police to investigate them.”
Ms Young, 40, remembers witnessing the aftermath of the atrocity; she was just four and watched injured soldiers returning to the barracks. Her father was just 19 when he died.
Ms Young, who lives in Wales, brought the civil damages claim against Mr Downey in the wake of the collapsed trial. By transferring his assets, Mr Downey may well be hoping to avoid having to pay out substantial damages or sell the house, should he lose any civil case.
Mark Tipper, whose brother Trooper Simon Tipper was also killed, said: “Suspected killers are being allowed more legal protection than their alleged victims – while our political leaders just repeat false promises of support to the men and women of this country who are its backbone.”
Matthew Jury, the managing partner at Mccue & Partners, which is bringing the claim against Mr Downey said it was a “farce” that the Government had allowed him to escape a trial but that police were still pursuing Army veterans. He said: “It is a gross disparity of justice and national shame when those suspected of the most awful acts of terrorism, like Downey, are given amnesties with which they may ease into comfortable, peaceful retirement; all the while, British veterans, who fought to protect us from such violence, are hounded through the courts by those seeking to rewrite the history of the Troubles.” It emerged after the collapse of the trial that 187 “comfort” letters were given to IRA suspects in a secret deal between Tony Blair’s government and Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA.
The row over the treatment of troops and suspected terrorists has been reignited by investigations into Army veterans.
The Telegraph disclosed this week how a 76-year-old former paratrooper was interviewed under caution for attempted murder for firing his rifle and dislodging masonry which may have hit two protesters, possibly injuring them, during the Londonderry Bloody Sunday riot in 1972 in which 14 civilians died. Ministers have refused to introduce a statute of limitations which would rule out prosecutions against the paratrooper – identified only as Sergeant O – and other former soldiers. While Sergeant O sits in his terraced home in southern England, not knowing if he will be charged over Bloody Sunday, Mr Downey could not have picked a more idyllic spot in which to enjoy retirement, in a remote corner of County Donegal, overlooking a beach.
Here he enjoys the benefits of a large, newly-built, two-storey, fourbedroom house, down a steep country lane, the golden sands and lapping waters just a few steps from his front door. He appears to have made his money from a business supplying local oysters to the retail and restaurant trade, which he ran with his wife until 2011.
Mr Downey, convicted and jailed for being a member of the IRA in 1974, is a popular figure in the Republican movement and well known in the local area.
Questions about him are not welcome, particularly in the town’s pubs and shops. When The Telegraph approached him at his new home, Mr Downey refused to comment, saying only: “No, no thank you” before shutting his front door.
In a rare interview given to his local newspaper, the Donegal Democrat, after his trial collapsed, he called for the establishment of an international truth commission as a way to safeguard the peace process. Justifying the use of the “comfort letter” he received, he said: “It is of prime importance that the peace process isn’t destabilised in any way. I believe that our two different traditions can live in equality based peace and harmony. I think the biggest thing we can do, as far as to the people who were killed are concerned, is to move forward and leave it in a way that it never happens again.”
Sergeant O, who suffered a stroke that left him partially paralysed, said it was “quite incredible that he [Downey] can have no problems”. He added: “He is suspected of killing servicemen and he walks away from court and the builds his own house while I am still under investigation. It is ridiculous.”
Johnny Mercer, a Tory MP and former Army captain who led a parliamentary inquiry into the mistreatment of Iraq war veterans, said: “It is outrageous John Downey is living in a lovely home overlooking the sea, relaxed and unconcerned, while Army veterans cannot enjoy their retirement because of the prospect of a knock on the door from British police threatening them with arrest.”
General Sir Nick Carter, the head of the British Armed Forces, waded into the controversy on Thursday, insisting he would protect veterans from “vexatious claims”. Yesterday Sinn Fein branded Sir Nick’s intervention “extremely insulting”. Sinn Fein’s Linda Dillon said: “These comments... will provide further hurt to families and victims of the conflict, some of whom have waited over 40 years for closure.”
‘It’s appalling ... He is the chief suspect in my father’s death but is able to enjoy his retirement’