Raymond Mc Cord to take legal action against PSNI over delays in the inquest into son’s murder

Posted By: June 06, 2017

RISH CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING
Distributed by Irish National Caucus
On October 22, 2009, the Irish National Caucus arranged for Raymond Mc Cord, Sr.—from a Belfast Protestant/Unionist background— to testify before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs (Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight) about the murder of his son Raymond, Jr. near  Belfast in 1997.
Because the killers of young Raymond were British agents and police informers, the brutal crime was covered up and nobody has ever been brought to justice.
Raymond, Sr. has campaigned relentlessly and fearlessly since 1997 for justice for his son.
Now, after 20 years, he has been forced to take legal action against the Police Service of Northern Ireland over the cruel delays of an Inquest into his son’s murder.(Please see below article from the Irish News of Belfast).
Fr. Sean Mc Manus said: ”I call young Raymond’s case the ‘Protestant-Pat Finucane case,’after the famous case of attorney  Pat Finucane who was also  assassinated by State-sponsored agents and police informers in 1989— and whose case has been relentlessly covered-up and obstructed by the British Government and the Northern Ireland police.
The United States Congress must continue to demand justice for the Finucanes and Mc Cords— whose cases go to the very heart of collusion in Northern Ireland, and which have become the very personification of how the British Government has conspired in the murder of both Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland.”


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Victims campaigner Raymond McCord. Picture by Victoria Jones/PA Wire.
 Irish News. Belfast.Tuesday, June 6, 2017.

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Raymond McCord Jnr who was murdered in 1997

A VICTIMS campaigner is taking legal action against the PSNI[Police Service of Northern Ireland] over delays in an inquest into the loyalist killing of his son 20 years ago.

Raymond McCord claims the failure to provide the coroner with non-sensitive material from the murder investigation has unlawfully contributed to the hold-up.

He is seeking a declaration that police are breaching his human rights and an order for disclosure of documents relating to the death of his son, Raymond Jnr.

Judicial review papers lodged at the High Court in Belfast also include a claim for damages.

Raymond McCord Jnr (22) was beaten to death before his body was dumped in a quarry on the northern outskirts of the city in November 1997.

A notorious UVF gang based in the Mount Vernon area of north Belfast carried out the murder. Despite a series of preliminary hearings, an inquest into his death has yet to get underway.

Delays have been linked to an ongoing criminal case against an assisting offender now providing state’s evidence on a range of offenses by the paramilitary unit.

Those proceedings are understood to relate to 44-year-old Gary Haggarty, the former UVF[Ulster Volunteer Force] commander turned supergrass [an informant who implicates a large number of people] who is awaiting trial for a catalog of terror offenses.

But Mr. McCord’s legal team believe the inquest should not have to wait any longer.

They want an urgent hearing of their case in a bid to secure an order compelling the Chief Constable to provide disclosure of the investigation material.

According to their case,  the ongoing situation is incompatible with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and breaches the victims campaigner’s entitlement to a fair and prompt hearing.

Solicitor Ciaran O’Hare, of McIvor Farrell law firm, said: “This is a very important action given that almost 20 years have passed and, to date, no disclosure has been forthcoming from the PSNI.

“My client feels highly distressed and frustrated by the ongoing delay.”