The Blame Game

[emmie]

this is an awful blunder, no wonder the families are upset.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-26345267

[emmie]

they should definitely reconsider the case.

[Old_Geezer]

Kidding someone who is wanted that they are not wanted in order to fool them into becoming visible seems a good tactic to me. Not sure where one draws the line though. One might get to a state where authorities are simply not trusted... oh hang on, wait a minute. Got to think this one through.

[sandyRoe]

Even if the case had went ahead, and the accused was convicted, he'd have served no more than 2 years under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

[emmie]

this isn't about just one man though is it, and that agreement is tainted,

[lady-janine]

dsuppose it is the law but i can't see why the judge didn't say something like - although the letter should not have happened, etc., in view of the seriousness of the charge teh case will go ahead.

those poor families. do hope there is something that can be done.

[emmie]

from the link
The Labour government issued letters to 187 terror suspects guaranteeing that they would not be tried. The police, and Northern Ireland Office officials are checking the cases.

Victims' families said they felt "devastatingly let down" by what they called "a monumental blunder".

[emmie]

Gromit, i saw your post, perhaps you would like to continue on the debate.

[ToraToraTora]

why does this letter have any meaning in law anyway? It's not an imunity from the home sec is it? The police have very few special statuses beyond the normal citzen so if I promised not to prosecute someone who had stolen my car would they be let off? I don't see how this makes any difference. can someone plase explain.

[THECORBYLOON]

SANDY, from the link,

"The agreement did not cover:Anyone suspected of, but not charged with, paramilitary offences committed before the Good Friday Agreement.Those who had been charged with offences but who had escaped.Those who had been convicted of offences but who escaped."

this means he would not have been released early had he been convicted.

[andy-hughes]

It is a horrendous situation.

From what I understand, the massive error was not only committed, but allowed to pass unchecked - the police knew it had happened, but chose not to act in time to undo the damage.

We should remember that the individual in question was on trial, and is innocent until proven guilty, but common decency and morality dictates that his case should have gone through due legal process.

It is imorral - but of course, nothing will happen.

i do hope no spokesperson comes on the news and says anything about 'lessons being learned' - I can't afford to replace my TV when I have thrown a size 9 Doc Marten through it.

[Brenden]

Seems like the politicians thought it a fair compromise to attain a "peace treaty" - so fair - they never told us.

[sandyRoe]

It's not just a 'peace treaty', it brought real peace to the people here. Can anyone who hasn't experienced it imagine what it's like to be in a bar that's blown up, or to hear that someone you know was shot dead as they walked along the street?
Hundreds of terrorists were released from prison in order to secure the peace. That's the price that needed to be paid.
These cases in the press now are loose ends that need to be dealt with so that we can try to get on with our peaceful lives.

[emmie]

whilst not only has he gone free, but the soldiers who are up for possible prosecution over Bloody Sunday might go to prison
Sandyr no one who witnessed the atrocity perpetrated in Hyde Park would ever forget it. Horses dead, men dead, killed by cowards under the guise of freedom fighters. Well if this man gets off and others as well, then they should stop the possible prosecution of soldiers. Because you know as well as anyone that murders were committed where no one has been accountable, and where many British citizens paid with their lives.
not even understanding the long time enmity between Catholic and Protestants

[emmie]

and not just in Hyde Park, how many dead over all these years, in Ireland, on the mainland, and essentially some of those who committed them are sitting in government. I sincerely hope that the peace is for good, from what i know of Ireland that may not be the case. Ireland's religious divide seems every bit as insidious as Muslim and Christian

[emmie]

Peter Robinson is threatening to quit, whilst Gerry Adams has called for his colleagues to settle down?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-26352967

[andy-hughes]

sandyRoe - "It's not just a 'peace treaty', it brought real peace to the people here. Can anyone who hasn't experienced it imagine what it's like to be in a bar that's blown up, or to hear that someone you know was shot dead as they walked along the street?
Hundreds of terrorists were released from prison in order to secure the peace. That's the price that needed to be paid.
These cases in the press now are loose ends that need to be dealt with so that we can try to get on with our peaceful lives."

I appreciate that the release of a number of dodgy individuals - and that is what they were at that stage - needed to be made immune from prosection, but that is a far cry from a known suspect whom the UK police were planning to charge for a major terrorist attrocity, to be allowed to escape justice in error, and then for the error to be compounded by being highlighted, but not acted upon.

I would also guess that the families of those involved would take some issue with your reference to their denial of a chance of justice as 'loose ends'.

[emmie]

and if you look it isn't just this one man, the letters were sent to 187 individuals.

[sandyRoe]

Emmie, if any of the soldiers involved in the Bloody Sunday killings are ever charged I'll eat my expensive hat.

[emmie]

and you have terrorists walking the streets, free from killing many of your citizens.