Massereene Barracks Shooting 2009

Debate between David Simpson and David Lammy

Tuesday 2nd September 2014 Westminster Hall

[Mr Lammy]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for the way he put his remarks. I know the family have drawn some comfort from the strength of feeling in the community that justice must be done. In 2013, the conviction of Shivers was overturned by Northern Ireland’s appeal court, and he was freed following a retrial. He claimed that he had been set up and that the forensic evidence had been planted.

Forensic Science Northern Ireland and the crime scene officers made a number of careless mistakes that undermined the prosecution’s case. The getaway car was found, partly burned, containing bullets of the calibre used in the attack, two mobile phones, balaclavas, a camouflage holdall and matchsticks. DNA evidence was found on the matchsticks, in the car and on the phones. One of the phones was found to have received an answerphone message congratulating the murderers on their work.

[David Simpson (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

I congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on securing this debate. He has mentioned Mr Colin Duffy, who is from my constituency. He is a well known, ranked republican. He is well known to security forces and, quite frankly, is as guilty as sin. Unfortunately, the evidence was not there in its fullness to convict. The right hon. Gentleman has raised a number of issues. Yes, there are a lot of questions that need to be answered, but I assure the family and the right hon. Gentleman that we, as Members of this House, pay tribute to every member of the Crown services from the mainland who ever served in Northern Ireland and paid the supreme sacrifice.

[Mr Lammy]

The House has heard those remarks and the manner in which they were made.

The crime scene officers did not remove the matches from the car until four days after the attack. The two matches found on the back seat of the Vauxhall Cavalier were then placed in the same bag, which increased the possibility of cross-contamination of DNA and assisted the defence in attacking the forensic evidence at the trial. The half-rear seat was folded down over the matches by the crime scene investigator, potentially transferring DNA.

The forensic experts also failed to change gloves between internal and external examination of one of the phones. They rightly understood that the possibility of transferring DNA via the gloves was miniscule, but by failing to change their gloves they showed naivety about building an airtight case that they could defend in court. Indeed, their evidence in the witness box was lamentably poor. One crime scene investigator even insisted on oath that he was not in the car; however, his DNA had been found inside. Brian Shivers did not even have to give an account of why his DNA was in the car; instead, he used his right to remain silent. The defence exploited those loopholes and, as a result, Brian Shivers walked free.

Others connected to the murder by DNA—Dominic McGlinchey Jr. and Declan McGlinchey—have not even faced charges. Only one person has been successfully convicted in connection with the murders of Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey. In November 2013, Old Bailey bomber Marian McGlinchey pleaded guilty to providing the mobile phone used to claim responsibility for the Real IRA murders of the two soldiers. She received only a suspended sentence and has never revealed to whom she supplied the mobile phone.

The third issue is the process of justice in Northern Ireland. No jury has ever looked at the evidence against Colin Duffy and Brian Shivers. It appears to the families of the victims that Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey received a lower level of justice simply because they were killed in Northern Ireland rather than elsewhere in the UK. They rightly ask whether the outcome might have been different if 12 ordinary members of the public had seen the evidence.

Mr Justice Hart presided over the first trial in 2011 and Mr Justice Deeny presided over the retrial last year. The family strongly suspect that Mr Justice Hart, a man as human as any of us, may have felt intimidated or afraid to draw a guilty verdict against Colin Duffy, who has a far-reaching, powerful reputation in Northern Ireland as a terrorist. It was Mr Justice Hart’s last case before retirement and the family fear that, in the twilight of his career, he was worried about his security when he no longer had all the protections afforded to a judge. The families of murder victims should be able to trust the courts that pursue the murderers. Such questions would not even have to be raised if a jury had tried the case.