STOP COVER-UP MR PATTERSON

NOVANEWS
Owen Patterson
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Office
11 Millbank
SW1P 4PN                                                                                                                12.7.2010

Dear Mr Patterson

Re: Northern Ireland Ombudsman’s Report into the bombing of McGurks Bar on 4.12.71

I am deeply concerned that the recent report given to the relatives of those killed in the UVF attack on McGurks bar was so inaccurate that even the year the attack happened was wrong and the names of those killed incorrect. Surely this deeply flawed report must be withdrawn and destroyed.

A new report is needed which deals thoroughly with the facts in the case. These include the reality that the RUC wrongly and deliberately blamed the IRA for the bombing and was supported by the political establishment of the time.

I believe that the Ombudsman’s office has seen documents between the British military and government which discussed the possibility that republicans had been preparing the bomb in the bar before planting it elsewhere and sought to promote the attack as an IRA “own goal”. This was despite the fact that a retired British military information officer interviewed by the ombudsman said that within a day of the attack the military were aware of UVF involvement.

Following the Saville Report into Bloody Sunday many of us thought a new era of truth and justice was developing, essential for peace in the north of Ireland. But it seems we were wrong.

Please stop the culture of cover-up in the cases of questionable actions by the political, military and police establishment in Northern Ireland. Like the Bloody Sunday relatives and wounded, the families of the dead of the McGurks bomb need the truth of what happened to be made public. They need to able to move on.

Many people have complained about the cost of the Saville Inquiry. Saville would not have been necessary had the truth been told in the first place. Let us learn from that.

TRUTH COSTS NOTHING COVER-UPS COST MILLIONS!

Yours in hope and anticipation

Mary Pearson

123 Newton Road

Birmingham

B11 4PS