Three Belfast men who were supposedly at the center of the spy ring have been acquitted of all charges. The men, whose arrests led to the collapse of the power-sharing executive, claimed the case against them had been politically motivated. The three were arrested following a police raid, done in the glare of the media, on Sinn Féin's offices at Stormont on 5 October 2002, when documents and computer discs were seized.
The accusations plunged Northern Ireland’s power-sharing institutions into crisis, with the Rev Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists and the Ulster Unionists, led at that time by then First Minister David Trimble, threatened to collapse the executive with resignations.
The British government suspended devolution, embarking on three years of direct rule.
Following the decision at Belfast Crown Court to drop charges against Sinn Fein’s head of administration Denis Donaldson, his son-in-law Ciaran Kearney and civil servant William Mackessy, Sinn Fein’s chief negotiator Martin McGuinness said the allegation of a spy ring was concocted in 2002 to destroy political progress at Stormont.
McGuinness said “There never was a Sinn Féin spy ring operating from Stormont. This was a carefully constructed lie created by the Special Branch in order to cause maximum political impact. Its effect politically has been to collapse the institutions and personally it has damaged the lives of the four people originally charged and their families. This operation is as blatant an example of political policing as you are likely to find.’
Said McGuinness, “Sinn Féin said very clearly at the time that eventually this case would fall apart. There was no evidence to sustain it. However that was not the motivation of those responsible for carrying out this operation. Their motivation was to collapse the political institutions and stall further progress on policing change including of course the transfer of power to locally elected and accountable politicians.’
“The effect of this operation," he said, "was to stop the work of the Executive in its tracks. At the time as Minister of Education I was involved in important work including the autism centre planned for Middletown and the review of post primary education.’
He added, “At a policing level very serious questions now need to be addressed by the British government and the PSNI. At a political level those who eagerly used this operation to walk away from the political institutions need to reflect long and hard on their position."
In a dramatic development, prosecutors told Belfast Crown Court during an unlisted case that no further evidence would be put forward and the prosecution was no longer in the public interest.
Justice Harte said a verdict of not guilty had to be returned and he told the men they were now free.
A statement from the Police Services of Northern Ireland (PSNI) reported in the Belfast Telegraph noted, "That police investigation has concluded. There are no further lines of enquiry and no individuals are being sought by the police."
Ciaran Shiels, of the Madden and Finucane law firm which represented Donaldson and Mackessy, told UTV both men believed they were the victims of a political operation by elements within the security forces in Northern Ireland opposed to political progress.
"Since October 2002 our clients have had extremely serious charges hanging over them," Shiels said.
"Both of them have vehemently denied the allegations against them."
Shiels added, "Their arrests had not only serious consequences for themselves and their families, but also for the wider community, in the sense that their arrests led to the fall of the power-sharing executive at Stormont."
"Our clients are of the clear view that they were victims of a political operation by elements within the security forces who deliberately used their position to hamper political progress in this country." Sources: UTV, Belfast Telegraph, Ireland On Line, Sinn Fein News
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