The Ulster Unionist Party Leader Steve Aiken OBE MLA, has said that IRA victims will be angered and bewildered by the Supreme Court’s decision to quash Gerry Adams’ convictions for attempting to escape from prison in the 1970s.
Steve Aiken OBE MLA said:
“Once again IRA victims will be left dismayed and angry by a judicial decision as Gerry Adams continues to lead what can only be described as a peculiarly charmed life at the hands of the British State.
“I note that Mr Adams said that internment without trial ‘set aside the normal principles of law and was based on a blunt and brutal piece of coercive legislation’.
“Given that he spent more than 30 years as the public face of Sinn Fein, regularly speaking on behalf of the IRA, refusing to condemn their actions, and playing a prominent role at the funeral services of numerous psychopaths and mass murderers, he should know a lot about setting aside the normal principles of law, not to mention being well acquainted with all things blunt and brutal.
“Mr Adams is able to go into a British court more than 40 years later and seek legal redress before getting off on a technicality. That is a lot more than hundreds of victims of the IRA are able to do.”