RUC disgraces itself again
A concerted campaign is underway to deceive the British public as to the real nature of the RUC. It is being prompted by Downing street and being orchestrated primarily by the Tory press.
The Blair government recently awarded the George Cross to the RUC, the highest and rarest mark of distinction for bravery the British State can endow. A foundation with financial bursaries in tribute to the courage of the RUC is also to be established. The Daily Telegraph has been vociferous in its opposition to the token proposals of reform outlined in the Patten report.
It can hardly be surprising then that in the middle of their 'Save the RUC Campaign,' the Daily Telegraph would not be in a hurry to report some unsavoury RUC news from Belfast. The Independent, the Daily Mail, Daily Express and The Times all joined with their friends in the Telegraph in 'overlooking' last week's 'sensational story' concerning the conviction of RUC officers for serious sectarian crimes.
Two RUC officers were handed jail terms by a crown court in Belfast on May 10 for beating up and attempting to frame a young Catholic man. Two other officers and a British soldier were given suspended sentences for conniving in the act.
Lots of people have reminded 21 year old Bernard Gribben how lucky he is to be free to walk the streets after his encounter with a typical RUC patrol. The sardonic joke in West Belfast says that he was 'the one that got away'.
It is best to let Bernard describe his own ordeal, it all began in February 1998 :
`I came out of the GAA club in Ardoyne and went to buy a burger. An RUC officer came over to me and said we have been watching you this past hour throwing bottles at RUC patrols. There was nothing I could say to him, I mean I had just come out of the GAA club. He threw me into the back of the jeep. As soon as the doors were closed it started. An officer started hitting me saying "what is your name, you Fenian bastard?"
'He hit me with a baton on the back of the head, and on the mouth. He punched me on the face and kept screaming at me "you Fenian bastard". He saw I was wearing a Celtic top and he shouts "he's fucking wearing a Celtic top". He ripped it off and hit me on my bare back.
'Then he pushed his baton up into my face and said "we'll get the LVF to shoot you . We'll drop you off on the Shankill Road". It was then that I thought I might not get out of this alive. When I was brought to Antrim Road police station I was relieved even though by that time I was covered in blood. I was then charged with disorderly behaviour and with assaulting a police officer.'
Days later the charges against Bernard were suddenly dropped. It turned out that one officer out of the five present, Andrew Lea had an attack of conscience and reported to his superior that the charges against Bernard were entirely fabricated. An internal RUC investigation was launched and Bernard's solicitor decided to pursue an assault charge.
Then one September morning a different set of RUC officers turned up looking for Bernard. "It was Sunday morning. I was sleeping. My brother woke me to say that the police were at the door looking for me. I came down and they told me they were going to search the house for explosives. They went up to the attic and came back with a coffee jar bomb."
Bernard and his brother were then charged with terrorist offences and then held in custody to await trial. After spending three months in custody yet again the charges against Bernard and his brother were mysteriously dropped.
Bernard's solicitor concluded that the explosive charges were simply a crude RUC attempt to get Bernard to drop his assault claim against them. He pressed on successfully and won the claim in the Crown court last week. Given the clear evidence from constable Lea the judge said he had no alternative but to send two RUC officers to prison for assault and hand down two suspended sentences to two others for perverting the course of justice. He summed up saying that he could find no motive for the disgraceful police behaviour other than blind sectarian hatred. The jail sentences of the RUC officers are the first of its kind.
Bernard Griffin publicly thanked officer Lea saying 'only for him it would have been me who ended up in jail.' However he was less fulsome in his comments on the RUC as a whole, he declared that the best he could say about them was that 'they were 75 per cent rotten and sectarian and 25 percent ok.' Bernard was lucky that one police officer refused to go along with the usual sectarian routine - countless others have not been so fortunate.
Bernard's story is just one more everyday reason why nothing else than the disbanding of the RUC will do. Bernard is set to leave northern Ireland soon fearing another RUC frame-up : "Since this started my life has been a nightmare."