Pat Finucane Center, http://www.serve.com/pfc, March 19, 2002
Special Branch Break-In 'Breach of National Security'
The British Secretary of State John Reid MP has announced an independent inquiry into the
'break-in' and theft of sensitive documents at an Special Branch office inside the heavily
guarded Castlereagh Police complex in East Belfast. On St Patricks night three men entered
a controlled access area of the complex, assaulted and tied up a Special Branch officer and
then made off with a number of documents. In a statement today the Secretary of State
described the raid as a breach of 'national security'. Given the location of the internal
office and the security surrounding the complex rumours are rampant that this was an
inside job. The Unionist Mayor of Belfast, Jim Rodgers, has already blamed the
'security services' for the theft while SDLP spokesman Alban Maginness has talked of
a scandal of 'Watergate' proportions.
Speculation regarding the content of the stolen files has reached fever pich with some
suggestions that they may have contained top secret information on 'intelligence assets',
ie informers. It seems ironic that the theft of documents would provoke the immediate
announcement of an independent review while credible evidence of Special Branch collusion
in actual murders has not resulted in an independent inquiry. This is not the first
occasion when the 'dirty war' has led to bizarre behaviour among the various agencies
involved.
On January 10 1990, as preparations were underway to arrest British Army agent Brian
Nelson, a mysterious fire destroyed the office of the investigation team who had been
brought in from England to investigate allegations of collusion between the security
forces and loyalist paramilitaries. The team was led by John Stevens and was based
at a 'secure' RUC premises in Seapark. Nelson, an agent of the British Army Force
Research Unit (FRU), was involved in the murder of Pat Finucane Last year it was
claimed by a former FRU agent, Martin Ingram, that the break-in and fire was the
work of a Controlled Methods of Entry unit of the British Army based at Repton
Manor in England.
Stevens is presently involved in the third investigation into the activities of FRU
and the murder of Pat Finucane and detectives from his team seized 'large quantities
of documents' from British Army HQ in Lisburn in August 2000.(Irish News 14.8.2000)
Last December William Stobie, the Special Branch agent who supplied the weapons
used in the murder of Pat Finucane, was murdered shortly after the collapse of a
criminal trial. Loyalist paramilitaries claimed the murder but there was speculation
that the elimination of such an important witness to a future inquiry served the
purposes of Special Branch.
The sensitive information which Special Branch keeps in its files may well include a
taped confession from the man suspected of the murder of Pat Finucane. It was
revealed in a television documentary last year that this had been withheld from
the Stevens team. The individual who boasted of the killing fled the North after
Stobie's murder and is believed to have sought protection from the Stevens team.
(see www.serve.com/pfc for more details and transcript of UTV documentary from May 2001.
So who was responsible for the weekend raid...? FRU, MI5, MI6, 14th Intelligence Unit,
or even Special Branch? Answers on a postcard to John Gordon Kerr, Military Attache at
the British Embassy in Beijing and former Officer Commanding FRU or Ronnie Flanagan,
former head of Special Branch.