Police following lead on I.R.A. bomb attack

Press, 25 September 1989, Page 10

Police following lead on I.R.A. bomb attack

From

TONY VERDON

in London

Three Irishmen who posed as holidaymakers in the seaside town of Deal were yesterday identified as key suspects in the I.R.A. murder of 10 Royal Marines at the barracks of the regimental School of Music.

They rented a terraced house overlooking the camp, for three weeks, but are believed to have left several days before the explosion that wrecked an office and recreation block on Friday. The bomb may have been planted during a disco at the base on Thursday night. Twelve people are still detained in hospital, five of them listed as critical. The bandsmen killed were not trained as fighting soldiers, but in times of conflict would have carried stretchers.

It is thought the three young Irish suspects could have escaped to the Continent on a Channel ferry from Dover. However, the head of Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist branch, Commander George ChurchillColeman, said yesterday the men were not the only possible lead the police were following up. But they did not yet know how the bomb was taken into the barracks or how big it was, but believed it was “some form of improvised device using high explosives.” The barracks had been identified as an I.R.A. target a year ago, but plans to improve its security were fatally delayed by Ministry of Defence red tape, “The London Sunday Times” re-

ported yesterday. The review was ordered after an attack last August at a military postage depot at Mill Hill, London, in which one man was killed and nine injured. It pinpointed Deal and other barracks as “soft targets” for the I.R.A. But “The Sunday Times” said work on improving Deal was delayed. Contractors were due next month to install new security systems, including higher perimeter fences, at the Kent barracks.

The newspaper said the work would have eliminated the weaknesses the I.R.A. exploited on Friday. In another security move, armed police are likely to reinforce civilian security guards at vulnerable military bases after the bombing, said “The Sunday Telegraph.” Bringing in Ministry of Defence officers would be an immedate way to stiffen security at defence establishments deemed “low risk” until Friday’s outrage.

The “Telegraph” said it could also head off a potentially damaging political row over the British Government’s cost cutting measures which has led to the use of civilian security firms, like the one involved in guarding the base at Deal.

A small number of M.O.D. policemen could be posted to each of the 40 defence establishments currently protected solely by unarmed civilian guards, to act as security co-ordinators. The Ministry police have full constabulary powers, including those of arrest and detention. All are trained to use 9mm Browning pistols, and some to carry Sterling sub-machine-guns. Over the week-end Royal Marine N.C.O.s in green berets, armed with pistols or rifles, stood with uniformed police at the barrack gates alongside men from the private security company. As criticism of private security firms guarding military establishments continued to mount, the managing director of the firm involved in Deal defended his employees’ performance. Mr Peter Paice, of Reliance Security Services, said: "Our duties start and stop at observation and advising the military as required.” He said the firm’s employees did not do anti-terrorist duties and were briefed to refer any matters concerned with antiterrorism to the military. Meanwhile, the Royal Marines’ chief has branded the I.R.A. “foul, murdering cowards.”

Clearly moved when visiting the injured, Commandant Sir Martin Garrod said the band would keep going in spite of the bomb. He said of the I.R.A. bombers: “It is very difficult to work out the distorted minds of these fiends.” Two of the Marines in hospital after the explosion spoke of their ordeal over the week-end. A 21-year-old band Corporal, said he was trapped under rubble for 90 minutes, always hoping that he would be rescued. “All the time I was wondering what kind of injuries I had. It was a terrible experience ... two of my friends died,” he said. Doctors said he would fully recover from his injuries. A 19-year-old musician in the next bed said he was determined to play on in spite of burns to his arms and face. “There was screaming ... it was like a nightmare,” he said. Newspapers yesterday condemned the bombing, which was the I.R.A.’s worst mainland bomb attack since the 1984 attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Mrs Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet at the Grand Hotel in Brighton.