Ex-DPP Barra McGrory QC: End Troubles murder prosecutions

Posted By: May 19, 2018

Former DPP Barra McGrory has said that the currently legacy proposals would result in endless litigation.

Allison Morris. Irish News. Belfast. Saturday, May 19, 2018

The former Director of Public Prosecutions has said that mechanisms proposed to deal with the past, currently out for public consultation, will only result in “litigating the past for years to come”.

Speaking to the Irish News Barra McGrory, who has returned to working in private practice since he left the senior prosecutor role at the end of last year, said the two-year moratorium on sentences served by anyone convicted of Troubles killings “tarnishes the justice system”.

The legacy proposals out for public consultation include plans for a Historical Investigations Unit (HIU) which would re-examine 1,700 unsolved murders, along with a truth recovery process that would rely on paramilitary groups voluntarily giving information.

Mr. McGrory said the proposals ” while well-meaning” are unworkable in practice with prosecutions unlikely, and has called for the end to prosecutions in favor of a civil inquiry.

“The criminal process will significantly inhibit the information process and to what end?

“Very few convictions will result, people will be as unhappy as they are now, and the opportunity to have a process which makes people truly accountable will be lost.

“Any criminal justice system can only deliver one thing and that’s a conviction beyond all reasonable doubt, it doesn’t look behind that.

“A cynic might say that the architects of this (public consultation) know that.

“Some of these cases are 40/45 years old and my concern about that is that those who are accountable will escape accountability simply because the criminal process is very narrowly focused.

“It (legacy) was not addressed and that was a significant political failure in terms of the peace process not to have dealt with this.

“It was addressed in a very narrow way in terms of the moratorium on sentencing, the two-year limit, which was designed for one purpose only and that was to empty the prisons.

“That was a trade-off in terms of how low can we go in order to get the prisons emptied quickly.

“It was a politically created figure.

“Now that there is enormous pressure to have criminal prosecutions, those prosecutions are deeply compromised by the existence of the two-year maximum.

“It brings into question the whole issue of whether prosecutions are the way forward at all because the essence of justice is that those who have committed serious crimes are held accountable but that accountability means – if convicted – would not serve the sentence that one would expect them to serve”, he said.

“That in my view tarnishes the justice system”, he said.

During his tenure, Mr. McGrory was criticised over the decision to prosecute former soldiers with a number of conservative MPs using parliamentary privilege to attack his office.

He pointed to the practice of the RMP (Royal Military Police) investigating up to 300 state killings in the early 1970s, investigations which have since been found to be substandard.

“The problem with a lot of the state cases is that they were not properly investigated when they should have been and the PSNI legacy branch has to prioritize them”, he said.

“But if you look at the stats into the number of cases that were looked at by the PPS, there was a fairly even number”.

Mr. McGrory said while he is not in favor of ‘drawing a line in the sand’ a tribunal similar to the Historic Institutional Abuse inquiry should be considered as a way to deal with legacy.

“Those who have the power to do something different and show true leadership are hiding behind criminal process and are quite prepared to wait it out”, Mr. McGrory said.

“People will continue to avail of their right for civil redress and the problem is the civil courts are now clogged up with writs and judicial reviews and that will continue.

“In my opinion, they should create an all-encompassing process that takes liability down to the civil standard, removes criminal punishment and brings true accountability.

“Otherwise we are just going to end up in endless litigation”, he said.

Mr. McGrory added that when he accepted the senior prosecutor’s job back in 2011 he didn’t think his previous private practice, during which he represented among others Gerry Adams, would become such a big issue.

“You take these jobs, you’re a big boy you deal with it, it wouldn’t have driven me out of office, my return to private practice was something I had always intended to do.

“However, it certainly leads to me to reflect on how troubles and legacy investigations were perceived and how they were going to reflect on the role of the prosecutor in the future”, he added.

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Two-year limit on jail time ‘tarnishes justice system’ says McGrory

Allison Morris. Irish News. Belfast. Saturday, May 19, 2018

Prosecution of Troubles murders should be brought to a halt because anyone convicted would serve just two years in jail, the former director of public prosecutions says.

Barra McGrory QC says the two-year moratorium on sentences for crimes committed before the 1998 Good Friday Agreement “tarnishes the justice system.”

In an interview with The Irish News, Mr. McGrory says current legacy proposals, “while well-meaning,” are

unworkable.

Mr. McGrory left his DPP role of six years at the end of last year and has returned to private practice.

“Very few convictions will result, people will be as unhappy as they are now and the opportunity to have a process which makes people truly accountable will be lost,” he says.

“Any criminal justice system can only deliver one thing, and that’s a conviction beyond all reasonable doubt. It doesn’t look behind that.

“A cynic might say that the architects of this [public consultation] know that.

“Some of these cases are 40, 45 years old and my concern about that is that those who are accountable will escape accountability simply because the criminal process is very narrowly focused.

“It [legacy] was not addressed, and that was a significant political failure in terms of the peace process not to have dealt with this.

“It was addressed in a very narrow way in terms of the moratorium on sentencing, the two-year limit, which was designed for one purpose only and that was to empty the prisons.

“That was a trade-off in terms of ‘How low can we go in order to get the prisons emptied quickly?’

“It was a politically created figure.

“Now that there is enormous pressure to have criminal prosecutions, those prosecutions are deeply compromised by the existence of the two-year maximum.

“It brings into question the whole issue of whether prosecutions are the way forward at all because the essence of justice is that those who have committed serious crimes are held accountable, but that accountability means – if convicted – they would not serve the sentence that one would expect them to serve.

“That in my view tarnishes the justice system.”

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Legacy consultation includes both criminal and truth recovery mechanisms.

Public consultation

Allison Morris. Irish News. Belfast. Saturday, May 19, 2018

Last week Secretary of State Karen Bradley announced that the British government would start a long-awaited public consultation on the legacy.

The proposed draft bill outlines plans for:

* A Historical Investigations Unit which would have a caseload of about 1,700 Troubles-related deaths and aim to complete its work in five years.

* An Independent Commission on Information Retrieval which would seek information only if asked to by families of victims.

* An oral history archive which would collect recorded memories and stories about the Troubles.

* An implementation and reconciliation group with 11 members representing the British and Irish governments, along with the five biggest Northern Irish political parties.

It will not include proposals for a statute of limitations for former soldiers, which most legal experts have said would be legally unworkable.

Anyone with interest in addressing the legacy of Northern Ireland’s troubled past will be able to participate in the consultation which will last four months and close on September 10.

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Ex DPP says Troubles prosecutions should cease
 Mark Devenport. BBC News NI.Friday, May 18, 2018

Prosecutions for Troubles-related murders should be brought to a halt, according to Northern Ireland’s former Director of Public Prosecutions.

Barra McGrory denounced proposals for a new Historical Investigations Unit (HIU) as “convenient politically.”

But he added it had not been properly thought through.

In response, a UK government spokesman said it was “committed to building widespread consensus and delivering better outcomes”.

The HIU would take over the task of re-examining 1,700 unsolved murders from the police and the police ombudsman.

Last week, a public consultation on the legacy of the Troubles was launched.

However, in an outspoken interview with BBC Radio Ulster’s Inside Politics, Barra McGrory QC expressed his belief that “the vast majority of these cases (taken on by the HIU) will not end in successful convictions”.

Poor evidence

The former Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) warned that the creation of the HIU would raise expectations, but “the evidence isn’t going to improve”.

“Time cannot be wound back, so the quality of the evidence will still be very poor,” he continued.

“There will be few convictions and in respect of those convictions, people will not be serving sentences commensurate with what they have been convicted for.”

Under the Good Friday Agreement, those convicted of Troubles-related murders before 1998 will only serve two years in jail.

 The government consultation process on the legacy of the Troubles will close on  September 10, 2018
The former DPP asked: “Is that really justice?

“Because justice suggests to me that there will be an efficient criminal process that will throw up convictions in a reasonable number of cases and that those convicted will serve sentences commensurate with the crime they have been convicted of committing.

“That is justice.

“But my terrible fear is that that will not be a consequence of this process.

“And where is it going to leave us?

“At the end of five difficult years, millions spent, much emotional energy invested, will we be any better off?”

Mr. McGrory also said he was surprised to hear the prime minister tell the Commons last week that the only people getting knocks on the door in Northern Ireland for troubles related investigations are former soldiers.

“Very surprised because it’s not true,” he said.

“Certainly as DPP there was a clear even-handedness in terms of the targets of the investigations being carried out by the PSNI Legacy Unit.”

Mr. McGrory said there were probably more viable prosecutions against state agents because many of the offenses they were suspected of had not been properly investigated previously.

He points out that any deaths caused by soldiers between 1969 and 1972 were investigated by the Royal Military Police, not the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

“Many of those investigations have been found to be seriously wanting which is why PSNI Legacy Branch has had to give priority to those deaths,” he continued.

In response to Mr. McGrory’s comments, a UK government spokesman said the current system is “not delivering enough for victims, survivors and for wider society”.

“This is why the Government has launched the consultation to seek views on the Stormont house proposals and listen to the concerns of interested parties. We are deeply committed to building widespread consensus and delivering better outcomes for those most affected.”

The government consultation, based on plans agreed by the local parties under the 2014 Stormont House Agreement, also included an Information Retrieval Commission intended to provide extra details to the families of troubles victims.

Both bodies are meant to complete their work over a five-year period.