Ulster Unionist Justice Spokesperson Doug Beattie MC MLA has called on the PSNI, Garda and West Midlands Police to examine claims made by a witness at the inquest into the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings.
Doug Beattie MC MLA said:
“The evidence from ‘Witness O’ was very interesting on a number of fronts.
“Firstly, he said that the ‘head of the IRA’ in Dublin has given him permission to name names.
“Given that numerous Sinn Fein politicians have claimed that there is no IRA, you wonder just who is in sitting Dublin, claiming to be the head of it? Bobby Storey said it had become a butterfly and flown away. So who exactly is at the head of what some claim is a ‘non-existent’ organisation?
“The PSNI and the Garda need to give an assessment of this claim as a matter of urgency.
“Secondly, if any of these people named are still alive - and I understand at least one is - then they are liable to prosecution. If Soldier F can be lined up for prosecution for alleged offences in Londonderry in 1972 then so can alleged IRA members for alleged offences in Birmingham in 1974. That’s what is meant by equality before the law.”