I.R.A. man cleared of 12 murders after torture claim

Press, 3 April 1980, Page 7

I.R.A. man cleared of 12 murders after torture claim

NZPA Belfast An Irish Republican Army man, Edward Brophy, was cleared yesterday of murdering 12 people with a huge incendiary bomb because a judge could not be sure his alleged confessions had not been induced by torture. However, Brophy, who is 39 was jailed for five years for being a member of the Provisional I.R.A. He had been accused ir the 45-day Belfast Crowr Court trial of the La Mor restaurant bombing in . Belfast in February, 1978, wher seven men and five womer burned to death. The victims were at the annual dinner of the Irish Collie Club when the bomt went off, causing a firebal 18.3 m wide and 12.2 m high. Nearly 300 others fled many with their clothes or fire. Brophy, of Belfast, wa< also acquitted of causing 11 other explosions at nine business premises betweer February, 1976, and his arrest in September. 1978. Mr Justice Kelly ruler that confessions he alleged!} made at the Royal Ulstei Constabulary holding centre at Castlereagh near Belfast were not admissible as evi dence.

He said he could not be [sure they ..had not been induced .‘‘by torture or in[human and degrading treatiment.” 'i Brophy had. claimed that . detectives ill-treated him and invented the confessions. ! The judge said Brophy I was a “weak man” anc [ there was some lack of cred- ■ ibility in his allegations, I But he had maintained a remarkable consistency about his. claims and medical ;evidence showed some signs I of it' ill-treatment,’ although 'many of his allegations were not borne out. ; Brophy was convicted of [being- an I.R.A. member on [ evidence he gave during the ! trial, when he admitted he 'had been an active membei ;and said he could “still be i classed as a member.” I Mr Justice Kelly said: “1 'believe for a trial judge in a -non-jury trial not to act or the evidence given freely by Brophy would be grossly unjust.” 9 Brophy is to appeal against the conviction. Meanwhile, British troops shot dead a 16-year-old boy on Tuesday' and woundec [two other teenagers wher fhe youths tried to crash e ■car through an army check'■point, the police have said.

I They said the teenagers jwer- believed to have stolen ! the car. ; Three youths have been shot and killed this year in the troubled province while attempting to drive through army checkpoints. In Washington, a Federal grand- jury has indicted three Americans on charges of conspiring to send Irish guerrillas a million rounds of ammunition stolen from the United States Marines. .. The Justice • Department said the Jrio .planned; to export ’ weapons purchased from American gun dealers to Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, without the necessary export licence from the" State Department. The indictment, issued in Raleigh, North Carolina, charged that they conspired to aid each other in the purchase and sale of approxi[mateiy “one million rounds lof various calibre North Atlantic Treaty Organisationjtype ammunition,” stolen [from- the Marine base at [Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Details of the theft (were not disclosed. i The department named the !: accused men as Howard Barnes Bruton of Wilson, I North Carolina, and Robert [Ferraro and George Demeo, [both of New York.