February 13, 2011 37
EXCLUSIVE NEW EVIDENCE OVER McGARTLAND KIDNAP
WHAT THE
HELL ARE
THE COPS
UP TO?
A FORMER RUC Special Branch
agent has called on Justice Min-
ister David Forde to investigate
his 20-year-old abduction.
It follows the discovery of documents
by the Sunday World which now raises
serious questions about the police
handling of the probe into his kidnap-
ping and a decision by the Public
Prosecution Service not to prosecute
his two abductors.
The PPS have told Martin McGartland,
above, that no records can be found of him
being treated in either Musgrave Park
Military Hospital or the Royal Victoria
Hospital.
A senior PPS director said no complaint was
received by the police until 2008 and said it
had never received a file on his case before
then.
However, the Sunday World has obtained a
copy of McGartland’s admission to the accident
and emergency of the RVH on the day of his
abduction on August 8, 1991.
And we have also obtained a copy of a letter
from RUC Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan
which reveals McGartland made a complaint
and the Director of Public Prosecutions ruled
in 1995 not to take his abductors to court.
Protecting
McGartland told the Sunday World: “I believe
there has been a cover up in my case by
Special Branch since 1991 and it has taken me
nearly 20 years to get at the truth.
“I now want the Justice Minister David Forde to
investigate my case. I am not getting justice for
what the IRA tried to do to me.
“At best this is incompetence on behalf of
the police and the PPS. At worst I believe I
have been lied to.
“But now the truth is coming out thanks to
the help of the Sunday World.”
Last October, the Public Prosecution Service
wrote to McGartland at his secret hideaway
address somewhere in England to tell him that
there was insufficient evidence to charge Jim
‘Filter Tip’ McCarthy and Paul ‘Chico’
Hamilton with his abduction and false impris-
onment.
After a furious McGartland kicked up about
the decision claiming the police were protect-
ing high ranking informants inside the IRA,
the PPS assistant director John Rea carried
Ronnie Flanagan letter and
hospital file proves the police
botched tout abduction probe
out a review of why a prosecution would not go
ahead.
On Monday, Feb 1, he wrote a four-page letter
to McGartland saying he had reviewed the file
and agreed with the decision not to prosecute.
The Sunday World can now reveal that police
recovered fingerprints of IRA terrorists
McCarthy and Hamilton in the a flat where
they were holding McGartland nearly 20 years
ago
But amazingly the prints are NO LONGER
AVAILABLE and the cops who recovered them
can’t be TRACED.
McGartland said police feared that if
McCarthy and Hamilton were charged, defence
lawyers would get access to top secret informa-
tion relation to RUC Special Branch opera-
tions and their covert informants.
He told the Sunday World that the
PPS letter now raised serious
questions about the original
RUC investigation carried into
his abduction on August 8,
1991.
The PPS letter reveals that:
●no evidence that McGartland
was in the flat
●no statement of complaint was
made in 1991
●no witness statements
were recorded at the
time;
●no arrests were
made (McGartland says
this is because Hamilton and McCarthy fled
across the border);
●McGartland’s Special Branch handlers
denied telling him not to name Jim McCarthy
and Paul Hamilton;
●no complaint was received until 2008;
●no records can be found of McGartland
being treated in either Musgrave Park
Military Hospital or the Royal Victoria
Hospital.
But the Sunday World has obtained docu-
ments which prove that McGartland was taken
to the RVH in Belfast on August 8, 1991.
His admission to the accident and emergency
department by an ambulance crew was timed
at 6pm and it gives his date of birth as January
30, 1970, his age as 21.
The paramedic crew record that they picked up
McGartland at 54H Broom Park, Twinbrook.
The admission form details his puncture
wound to his upper arm, bruising on his legs,
and lacerations to his head and upper arm.
He was given two doses of pain relief – 10mg
of Hynoval and 50mg of Pethidine.
Presence
Under the heading of ‘MECHANISM FOR
INJURY’, it states: Jumped through upstairs
window’.
Said McGartland: “I jumped head
first through the living room window
and fell 40 ft to the ground below.
“This document proves that I was in the
RVH hospital. I still have the name tag
the RVH staff put around my wrist.
“My Special Branch handler came lat-
er and took me away to a safe house
inside Palace Barracks in Holywood.
“I was interviewed by
Detective Sergeant Hugo Frew
of CID in the presence of my
Special Branch handler.
“Before I was interviewed, Special Branch
told me not to mention McCarthy or
Hamilton’s name to CID. I thought it was
because they were going to mount an operation
to arrest them.
“As soon as DS Frew started probing about my
abduction, the Special Branch officer said: ‘No
more questions’. And that was it. The interview
was over.
“That Special Branch officer has confirmed
to the Sunday World that he has not been spo-
ken by the PSNI over my complaint in 2008.
The Sunday World has a letter from the then
Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan, below, to
Ken Maginnis. Dated January 21, 1997 it con-
firms McGartland had made a complaint to the
RUC and it was investigated.
“On August 8, 1991 Martin McGartland was
abducted and taken to a first floor flat in
Twinbrook area by a number of men.
“After several hours of unlawful detention he
managed to make good his escape and after a
period of hospitalisation, he was taken into
protective custody.
Serious
“At the time he refused to make any state-
ment or offer evidence against his abductors.
He was relocated for his own safety.
“On November 24, 1992, the BBC broadcast
an ‘Inside Story’ programme in which
McGartland recounted the circumstances of
his abduction and interrogation.
“During a subsequent investigation by us, he
did inform investigating officers that he would
be prepared to give evidence, inter alia,
against those involved in his abduction.
“A full investigation was carried out and a
report submitted to the DPP.
“On April 7, 1995 the Director issued a direc-
tion of ‘No Prosecution’.’’
Added McGartland: “This letter also proves
that I did make a complaint and a file was sub-
mitted to the DPP.
Assistant Director John Rea tells McGartland
in the PPS review letter: “There is, in short, no
forensic evidence to support your account.
“All of the accused have been interviewed by
police and deny the allegations.’’
But McGartland has hit back, saying: “If they
weren’t in the flat, what were their finger
prints doing there?
Added McGartland: “There are very serious
questions concerning the PSNI’s and PPS’s
handling of this matter which raises far more
serious questions.’’
john.cassidy@nth.sundayworld.com