The Irish Daily Star (Northern Edition), 29 January 2004:

 

Family and former British army man hit out

 

Barron "Failed to Serve Truth"

 

Former spy slams report

 

By Mick Browne

The Barron Report into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings has "failed to serve truth", a former British army spy claims.

The ex-British army captain Fred Holroyd says the report into the 1974 atrocities is "a missed opportunity to deliver the real truth" about "the dirty war" on both sides of the border at that time.

Mr Holroyd had three meetings over the last two years with retired judge Barron.

He is one of three former security force personnel who made a series of claims about alleged British collusion in loyalist terrorism, including the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.

He was removed from his post in 1975 and has campaigned since for an army appeal, which he has been denied.

In the report Justice Barron accuses Mr Holroyd of a "number of factual errors, memory lapses and contradictions".

Study

However, the retired judge rejects RUC and Garda portrayals of Mr Holroyd as "unfair".

Mr Holroyd told The Star he feels the Barron Report unfairly portrayed him "as a man obsessed".

He also said he feels the report has "missed the bigger picture".

In a statement Mr Holroyd said: "After a detailed study of the report by Justice Barron on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings I have to confess to feeling disappointment and sadness.

"Here was an opportunity to reveal the truth of what really lay behind this tragedy.

"What we have got is a report which should please both politicians and police both in the UK and Ireland.

"In this report I have seen untruths, bias, cover-ups and what would have been perjury had this been under oath," he claimed.

"In every sense this inquiry has been unsatisfactory, with no recorded evidence, evidence given but not attributed to revealed sources, untrue smears given credibility - it's worthless, except that it does show establishments will go to any lengths to cover up scandal.

"It has, however, two good effects. It has shown those concerned they can't rely on the police and politicians for justice and accidentally, I suspect, it has shown who is lying and the areas they are prepared to lie about.

"It has increasingly motivated me to carry out my struggle for justice, as I hope it will others.

"I do not accept that a cover-up of this nature is in the 'interests of national security'

"I am currently addressing the many distortions, lies and hidden agenda in the report, with a view to speaking to members of the Justice for the Forgotten in the near future to encourage them to independently reach the truth.

Interest

"I find repeatedly that those whose attitude is 'perhaps we will never know' often have a vested interest to make sure their words come true," he said.

Mr Holroyd said he hopes to speak to the Oireachtas subcommittee hearings on the Barron Report.

Efforts by The Star yesterday to contact the Barron team for comment  were unsuccessful.

 

Family wants truth about murder

By Mick Browne

The Barron inquiry will not uncover the truth of the abduction and murder of a man by UDR officers and a suspected British under-cover agent, the victim's family claim.

The family of Seamus Ludlow told The Star they fear the truth about his murder will never come out.

Mr Ludlow (47) was a forestry worker and Fine Gael party member who lived near Carlingford.

He was abducted while hitching a lift home from a Dundalk pub on May 2, 1976. His body was found the next day - he had been shot three times. In the late 1990s his family was told that the killers were not only members of the Red Hand Commando but that two of them were officers in the UDR, while another was a loyalist killer nicknamed "Mambo".

Battle

It was also alleged that a fourth man involved in Mr Ludlow's killing told the RUC about the murder in 1987 but police did not follow up his confession.

The family believes the RUC has always had enough information to bring charges, but that collusion and cover-up means they will have to continue their battle for justice.

Retired judge Barron conducted an inquiry into the Ludlow case and a report is due next month.

But Mr Ludlow's nephew, Michael Donegan, said: "This is not the public inquiry we have been demanding.

"We will be happy to see his report - it might recommend a public inquiry. But we won't believe it's an end or resolution to our struggle."

I Homepage I I Top I

Please visit:
Justice for the Forgotten at http://www.dublinmonaghanbombings.org/. The Barron Report on the May 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings can be downloaded in pdf format from http://www.irlgov.ie/oireachtas/Committees-29th-D%E1il/jcjedwr-debates/InterimDubMon.pdf