RAYMOND McCORD ORAL AND WRITTEN TESTIMONY TO U.S. CONGRESS-OCTOBER 22, 2009

Posted By: December 10, 2019

Oral Testimony of Raymond Mc Cord Sr.

House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight.

October 22, 2009

Mr. Chairman and Members,

I am most grateful for the opportunity to appear before this Sub Committee.

I request my written statement be entered into the record.

 I see this Hearing as a lifeline that has been thrown to my family and me.

I cannot help but be struck by the difference between the way I have been treated by Members of Congress and the way Unionist/Protestant politicians have treated me. In 2008, when there was a vote taken in the Northern Ireland Assembly on my son’s case, a majority of the Unionist politicians walked out. You can, therefore, see just how much your support means to me.

I look to the United States Congress as my last hope of getting justice for my son Raymond Jr. (22) who was brutally murdered in 1997 near Belfast. The killers belonged to a Protestant paramilitary group – the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).  The man who gave the orders to kill my son is Mark Haddock. He was a longtime paid British Government agent, police informer, and serial killer as the Police Ombudsman’s Report of 2007 established.1

For nearly 12 years I have campaigned for justice for my son, and for those years the British Government (my government) and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), my police, have blocked and stonewalled me. They have colluded and are still colluding with the killers of my son and many other victims. I really want to emphasize to this Sub Committee that my son’s case is not about police corruption. IT IS ABOUT POLICE AND STATE COLLUSION WITH MURDER.

The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 promised a “new beginning to policing.” My family and I have experienced no new beginning.  We have only experienced cover-ups, lies, and threats. Throughout the key period, the police were controlled by Ronnie Flanagan, former Head of the Special Branch, and Chief constable from 1996-2002. (However, I do recognize there are many fine individuals cops in Northern Ireland who were not allowed to do their job).

Sir. Hugh Orde, who until very recently was Chief Constable, was seen as bringing a new attitude to policing. But even he retained Mark Haddock as a paid agent for 15 months after it was established that Haddock had been involved in many murders.

Not long after Raymond’s murder, as I began campaigning for justice, the UVF in one night covered the walls of houses in Protestant areas near my home with the following message: “ Daddy Raymond: Which son next – Gareth or Glenn? Your choice”. Hours earlier they had smashed Raymond’s headstone with hammers, one of three such attacks. Even though the names of the perpetrators were given to the police, I was the one who was arrested and put in a police cell to shut me up. It was one of many times the police arrested me for no reason other than to try and silence me.

The continuing campaign of intimidation and death threats against my family and me is not random. It is controlled and organized and the perpetrators are known because the police and British intelligence have totally penetrated the UVF. The Ombudsman Report, too, has established this.

In May 2009, the Irish National Caucus sponsored my visit to Capitol Hill. While here, the Northern Ireland Bureau in Washington arranged for me to visit the British Embassy to speak with Nic Hailey, the spokesman for justice and policing in Northern Ireland.

Mr. Hailey never answered one question, never offered any explanation, and never uttered the slightest hope that I might get justice for my son.

Why is there such a conspiracy of silence surrounding Raymond’s murder? My son was an innocent 22-year-old, a loving son and brother, who was not a threat to any person or any State

Why has Mark Haddock had so much influence? How can he so shamefully blackmail the British Government and their security forces? What and who gives this murderer so much power?  The answer is collusion: it effectively gives killers the power to control their government. Haddock’s first murder was in1993, which he admitted to two Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) detectives the day after the murder. But instead of being arrested he was given money to go on a foreign holiday and continued to work as an agent and a killer for another 10 years or more.

Here are the questions which are central to my son’s case and which the British Embassy refused to answer:

     1. Why has no one been charged with Raymond’s murder?

2. Why was Haddock allowed to kill for so long and get paid for it?
3. Why no action against present or former RUC/PSNI officers who refused to be

          interviewed or to cooperate with the Ombudsman’s investigation.                 

4. Why were police officers allowed to get away with admitting to “coaching and

          babysitting” suspects in sham interviews to ensure the suspects would not admit to murder?  (Police officers even got away with admitting they handed

          over a bomb to Haddock that was used in the Irish Republic.)

A democratic society requires that the police must not be above the law. Rather, they must uphold it, and be seen to do so.  Yet my son’s case clearly demonstrates that in Northern Ireland some police officers and their agents can literally get away with murder.  This is not only collusion but also collusion sanctioned from the very top. It is not about the corruption of a few bad apples.  What does it do to Northern Ireland society when the government pays serial killers? What does it do to the policing system when killers are given a wage increase of sixty percent after they commit their first murder, as happened with Mark Haddock when he murdered Sharon McKenna in 1993?

This is the shocking collusion I have been battling against for twelve lonely years. But now it is my hope that with the help of the US Congress, my son will be at last given justice and a great wrong will be righted.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Members, from the bottom of my heart.

END.

1 Operation Ballast. A Report on the Police Ombudsman’s investigation into matters surrounding the death of Raymond McCord Jr. by Nuala O’Loan. 2007.

 

WRITTEN TESTIMONY TO U.S. CONGRESS

Written Testimony of Raymond Mc Cord Sr.

House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight.

October 22, 2009

My son Raymond Christopher McCord aged 22 years was brutally murdered on 9^th November 1997. (See Timeline, Appendix 1). The killers were members of a Protestant paramilitary group, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).

Mark Haddock, a senior UVF man gave the order for Raymond Junior’s murder. Haddock was the leader of Mount Vernon UVF and was later to be exposed as a long-time police Special Branch informant, who had been paid at least £80,000 ($120,000) while involved in up to 20 murders.

This killer was part of the British Security Force’s intelligence services for at least 12 years. During that time, we are asked to believe his police handlers did not know that he was involved in many murders. Nuala O’Loan, the then Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, in her report of the police “investigation” into my son’s murder     revealed that Haddock:

1. Was a member of the UVF in North Belfast;
2. Progressed through the ranks of the UVF;
3. Was never a registered CID informant (CID is the Criminal Investigation Department);
4. Was recruited through his “long-standing friendship” with a police officer;
5. Provided intelligence to Detective Constable McIlwrath and Detective Sergeant Brown, prior to his formal registration as an informant;
6. Became an informant in 1991 for Special Branch;
7. Was the subject in excess of 500 pieces of intelligence provided by others over 12 years;
8. Was allegedly, involved in 10 individual murders;
9. Was allegedly, involved in the attempted murder of 10 individuals;
10. Was allegedly, involved in other serious crime including:
    1. targeting an individual for murder in 1994;
    2. a bomb attack in Monaghan (Republic of Ireland) in 1997;
    3. punishment attacks, drug dealings and attempting to pervert the course of justice; and
11. Was never given participating “informant status” by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) / Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

This is a very small part of the report but it gives an indication of how Haddock behaved and also how the Special Branch gave him a license to kill or whatever he felt like doing.

Nor was Haddock the only senior UVF man working for the Security Forces of Great Britain: the Supreme Commander, John “Bunter” Graham has been an agent of the State for years. He is the man who controls and has run, the UVF for years.

The list goes on. Many of the leading UVF men were, in fact, Special Branch informants, who were also involved in murders, drug dealing, beatings, and extortions. How many innocent lives have been sacrificed so as not to expose these informers? Civilians, policemen, and soldiers: all sacrificed for what the Special Branch called “the bigger picture”. These officers and their superiors were in collusion with all the paramilitary groups. Police are supposed to protect life and serve the people. In Northern Ireland, we had policemen who did the opposite! What government or police force would take no action on officers, up to the rank of Assistant Chief Constable, who refuse to cooperate in investigations into murders, attempted murders, drug dealing, extortion, etc? 

Police officers made statements to Nuala O’Loan’s office revealing that during interviews with Mark Haddock, they were to make sure that he didn’t admit to murder or other serious crimes. In addition, there are instances where they were told not to take notes and to “babysit” him through interviews.

Recently Haddock was charged with the murder of Mr. English. Yet, after the murder in 2000, Haddock was found to have in his possession the address and car registration of Mr. English.  He was charged with having information likely to be of use to terrorists.  But Haddock’s senior handler, Detective Sergeant Phil Scott, prepared a confidential document that was forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecution. This provided a favorable account of Haddock’s history as an informant and stated, “The recent arrest was due to unavoidable and unfortunate circumstances which were not under his control. There were no sinister motives behind the possession of the vehicle registration number. I am of the opinion that the informant will be of great value in the future and that he is aware that it was unavoidable circumstances which have resulted in his present circumstances.”  Detective Sergeant Scott does not mention that Haddock had been arrested because he was a suspect in the murder of Mr. Tommy English. 

 

The O’Loan Report shockingly reveals that Detective Sergeant Scott admitted, handing over a bomb to Haddock that was used in Monaghan to attack Sinn Fein offices.  How often this happened – only Special Branch knows!  They even increased Haddock’s wages from £100 a month to £160, weeks after his first murder of Sharon McKenna: a murder to which he admitted to his handlers.  

A pay-raise of 60% for committing a murder!  On top of that, his handlers gave Haddock money to go on holiday shortly after the murder, until the “heat died down”. 

In the case of my own son Raymond’s murder, the RUC received information relating to who ordered it (i.e. Haddock), yet waited 14 weeks before they questioned Haddock. Two days after the murder, Willie Young, who had been out on a weekend parole, was named as one of the killers by an informant. Yet police did not interview him until another 8 days (19^th November 1997) even though he had returned to prison and was easily accessible.  Two days previously, the police went to the Maze Prison to question him and according to the police, they were refused by the Prison authorities to interview Young – an allegation that the Prison Service denies. These questions must be asked:

1. Why did the RUC wait 8 days after receiving this information before they interviewed Young?
2. Why did they wait 14 weeks before they interviewed Haddock?
3. Also, why did they spend only one day questioning Haddock, bearing in mind that they had received more information that Haddock had ordered the murder; and that Willie Young, John Bond, and Stephen Logue had carried it out?

In 1998 RUC Chief Constable, Ronnie Flanagan, met with my MP (Member of Parliament) Nigel Dodds and me. Flanagan stated, “Murderers do not work for the RUC”. However, we have seen and heard through Nuala O’Loan’s office that Haddock is suspected of a number of murders. It is irrelevant whether or not Haddock carried out the murders himself because he was the boss of the unit carrying them out. Moreover, the police kept him as an agent for 12 years. Let us not forget that he admitted to his handlers, the murder of Sharon McKenna.

Did Ronnie Flanagan, as a former head of Special Branch and at that time the Chief Constable, not know that Haddock was an informer, a senior UVF man, a terrorist, a killer, a drug dealer and someone on whom other informants were providing information in regard to his crimes? Informants provided Five hundred pieces of information alone on him. Did he not know that Haddock was a major suspect in many murders? Why did he continue to allow Special Branch to keep him on as a paid Special branch informer? How many more “Mark Haddocks” were there working for the police? How can Ronnie Flanagan wash his hands of all this and pretend he did not know?

In 2000 I sent a letter on my son’s case to the Stevens team (the British Government team appointed to investigate collusion between the security forces and Protestant paramilitaries). They explained they could not deal with it under the terms of reference of their brief. So they passed the letter on, hand-delivered it to the RUC – giving it personally to Ronnie Flanagan’s “ Command Secretariat”.

Flanagan denied ever receiving the letter. However, nine years later the Stevens Team gave me a copy of the letter of receipt, which Chief Superintendent Sillery had signed, thereby proving they had received my letter. On the signed receipt, it states the letter would be given to Assistant Chief Constable White, who was in charge of the Special Branch, for “ appropriate action”. No action was taken. And no reason has ever been given except Sir Ronnie stating that he was not aware of the letter. I believe the Sub Committee will find the paper trail most interesting. Please see Appendix 2.

As a result of The O’Loan Report, Operation Ballast, the British Government has made changes to the way that informants are handled. But they have yet to publicly admit collusion. I believe one of the most important aspects of this case is for the British Government to hold up their hands, come clean, and tell the truth.  They did collude with terrorist organizations and should now apologize and compensate the victim’s families.  They are no different than Muammar Gaddafi’s government blowing up a jet with nearly 300 people on it. Gaddafi’s was one revolting act of terrorism: the terrorists in NI committed thousands of acts of terrorism – many committed by police agents.

For almost 12 years, I have fought to get justice for Raymond Jr. I have been falsely arrested, hounded and intimidated by certain sections of the RUC / PSNI.  I must add, not all policemen were bad. The UVF has made many attempts to kill me including a planned car bomb attack. All because I was telling the truth about what had happened to Raymond Jr; who had carried it out; who ordered it; and the Special Branch connection to it all.

My son’s headstone was smashed on 3 occasions, and even though I gave the names of the UVF men who had caused the damage to the police, no one was ever arrested or questioned.  Yet, when UVF men or their friends made a complaint about me, the police did not hesitate to arrest me.  In fact, on one occasion when Raymond’s headstone was smashed, the RUC/PSNI arrested me for no reason and locked me up in a cell.  On another occasion, I was in a graveyard, and a special unit of the PSNI arrested me and locked me up from Monday to Wednesday in an interrogation center. No charges were brought against me. I believe that they were using scare tactics and wanted to shut me up: but they didn’t work. Sir Ronnie Flanagan was Chief Constable at that time.

I’ve had to live behind bulletproof windows and move home several times due to threats on my life. Until recently, when Haddock and his mob were arrested and charged with murder and other serious crimes, the PSNI were regular visitors to my home to warn me that the UVF was planning another attempt to kill me.

A new police unit, known as the “Historical Enquiry Team” (HET), has been set up with no intervention allowed by the Special Branch; and, hopefully, now people will have a chance of justice. The HET has accomplished more in the past 12 months against Haddock’s old mob than the RUC/PSNI over many years. They have demonstrated that progress can be achieved. About 12 UVF men have been charged with murder, attempted murder and membership in the UVF.

My call would be for Prime Minister Gordon Brown to give the HET more funds.

Nuala O’Loan’s report vindicated me and my allegations. Still, Unionist politicians like Jeffrey Donaldson, Ian Paisley Jr, and Lord McGuinness dismissed the Report as lacking in proof. 

My son brutally murdered and not one unionist politician sent a sympathy card or attended the funeral. Had the IRA murdered Raymond these same politicians would have been lining up to carry his coffin. However, people like Gerry Adams, Mark Durkan, Lady Silvia Herman, Bernie Ahern, and Pat Rabbite TD have given me their support. I am deeply grateful for the absolutely essential reporting of the Sunday World and in particular to John Cassidy, Richard Sullivan, and Jim McDowell in not allowing Raymond’s case and the scandal of collusion to be covered up.

There are many decent people such as Nuala O’Loan; Geraldine Finucane; Jane Winters; Lord Stevens; Dave Cox, (HET Commander); Paul McIlwaine; and Catherine McCartney, to name but a few, who can clearly see the hidden hand of the State in the sordid business we call collusion.

 I hope the Sub Committee recognizes the efforts of Father Sean McManus, and the help that he has given to me in Raymond Junior’s case.  Without him, I would not have been able to come to Capitol Hill last May to lobby for this Hearing, nor to be testifying before this Sub Committee today.

When I was on Capitol Hill in May, the Northern Ireland Bureau in Washington arranged for me to visit the British Embassy to speak with Nic Hailey, the spokesman for justice and policing in Northern Ireland.

Mr. Hailey never answered one question, never offered any explanation, and never uttered the slightest hope that I might get justice for my son.

Why is there such a conspiracy of silence surrounding Raymond’s murder? My son was an innocent 22-year-old, a loving son and brother, who was not a threat to any person or any State

Why has Mark Haddock had so much influence? How can he so shamefully blackmail the British Government and their security forces? What and who gives this murderer so much power?  The answer is collusion: it effectively gives killers the power to control their government. Haddock’s first murder was in1993, which he admitted to two Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) detectives the day after the murder. But instead of being arrested he was given money to go on a foreign holiday and continued to work as an agent and a killer for another 10 years or more.

Here are the questions which are central to my son’s case and which the British Embassy refused to answer:

     1. Why has no one been charged with Raymond’s murder?

2. Why was Haddock allowed to kill for so long and get paid for it?
3. Why no action against present or former RUC/PSNI officers who refused to be interviewed or to cooperate with the Ombudsman’s investigation.
4. Why were police officers allowed to get away with admitting to “coaching and babysitting” suspects in sham interviews to ensure the suspects would not admit to murder? (Please see Appendix 3 for a record of my lobbying efforts with Fr. Mc Manus).

In sharp contrast to the British Embassy, Members of Congress and Irish-Americans gave me a warm and wonderful welcome on my May visit. And my family and I were absolutely thrilled and uplifted to receive a most gracious letter from Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. (Please see Appendix 4)

I hope that your Sub Committee will put pressure on the British Government in a way that only representatives of the American government can.  I am confident that my appeals to America will not be in vain. And I make my appeals not just on behalf of my son, Raymond Jr.but also on behalf of the many voiceless victims of State collusion.

 I have stayed within the law in my quest for truth and justice. This Testimony is for Raymond Jr; his brothers, my other sons, Gareth and Glenn; and Raymond’s mum, Vivienne.

Once again, I am deeply grateful to Chairman Delahunt and this Sub Committee for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you from the bottom of my Belfast heart.

Raymond McCord

                                    APPENDIX

1.

 

The Murder of Raymond Mc Cord Jr.

A TIMELINE

By His Father, Raymond Mc Cord Sr.

Issued on Capitol Hill -Visit, May 11, 2009

November 9. 1997. Raymond Jr. murdered by the UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) on the orders of Mark Haddock — a long time paid government agent and police informer. Raymond’s face was so badly beaten that we could not have an open casket viewing at his wake.

1998

My local MP accompanied me at a meeting with Ronnie Flanagan, Chief Constable of the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) and former head of the Special Branch. He told me, “ Murderers do not work for the RUC”. A patently false statement.

August 1999

I received constant harassment and arrests. I was once arrested in a cemetery on a Monday and held to Wednesday. Three months previously I had made a complaint to the police about Mark Haddock’s threat to kill me. Haddock was arrested and charged but released. The charges were dropped on the orders of the Public Prosecution Service even though the Public Prosecution Service had not received the police file.

Throughout my campaign for the truth, I received no real support from Unionist politicians, with the exception of Lady Sylvia Hermon, MP, of the Ulster Unionist Party. Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein and Mark Durkan, SDLP leader were the only two political leaders who helped.

The Unionist politicians were in denial, refusing to admit collusion, and they simply wanted me to go away.

2000

Sent letter on my son’s case to the Stevens team (the British Government team appointed to investigate collusion between the security forces and Protestant paramilitaries). They explained they could not deal with it under the terms of reference of their brief. So they passed the letter on, hand-delivered it to the RUC – giving it personally to Ronnie Flanagan’s “ Command Secretariat”.

Flanagan denied ever receiving the letter. However, nine years later the Stevens Team gave me a copy of the letter of receipt, which Chief Superintendent Sillery had signed, thereby proving they had received my letter.

On the signed receipt, it states the letter would be given to Assistant Chief Constable White, who was in charge of the Special Branch, for “ appropriate action”. No action was taken

Four weeks after my letter had been submitted, Haddock’s murder-team killed two more Protestants. Again, Assistant Chief Constable White — a fact the Stevens Team will confirm, took no action against him. White later would refuse to cooperate with the O’Loan investigation.

                                             

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To summarize Sir Ronnie Flanagan’s role: While Flanagan was Head of the Special Branch and Chief Constable of the RUC, he employed Haddock as a paid agent and informer who was free to kill at will and did so many times.

Even under Flanagan’s successor, the current Chief constable, Sir Hugh Orde, Haddock was retained as a paid police agent for over a year.

2002

 I went to the Police Ombudsman, Nuala O’Loan, to register a complaint against the negligence and collusion of the RUC/PSNI.

January 2007.

The O’Loan Report, Operation Ballast, vindicates and proves my accusations of negligence and collusion.

The Report states “ Informant1 [Mark Haddock] was a “protected species”, despite being implicated in 16 murders, 10 attempted murders, 23 paramilitary-style shootings and beatings, drug-dealing, extortion, arson, and intimidation.

The Ombudsman declared there was a  “pattern of work by certain officers within the Special Branch designed to ensure that [Haddock] and his associates were protected from the law”.

The Report also states that the police conducted “ sham interviews”, the better to protect the killers. The Report found that junior police officers were ordered by their superiors not to take notes during interviews with Haddock. (Indeed, prior to the Report, one police officer confided to me that he was too scared to conduct a proper investigation lest his career should suffer).

Prime Minister Tony Blair accepted the Report but refused to meet with me, even though he met my friends, the Finucane family. The current PM, Gordon Brown, has also refused to meet with me.

Even the brave Nuala O’ Loan could not take my son’s case any further so I was forced to turn to America for help. I met Fr. Mc Manus, president of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus, in 2007 in Washington and asked him to take on my son’s case. I met him again in 2008 in Northern Ireland when he was home on vacation in Fermanagh. He agreed to sponsor a special lobbying effort and to bring me to Capitol Hill.

TOO LONG

It took a while to organize, a variety of things having happened, not the least of which was the Presidential campaign and election. Finally, I had the chance to come to Capitol Hill for two-weeks to make my case for a Congressional Hearing on my son’s case.

While on Capitol Hill someone asked, “But why now? Why so late?” Well, that is, unfortunately, the way it is for Northern Ireland victims – it has always taken too long to get one’s voice heard because those in power seek to silence us and marginalize us.

Hopefully,  the US Congress will hear my voice and take up my cause.

My heart is gladdened by the Congressional empathy and support I have received and I am heartened by the fact my cause has been embraced by all Irish-American organizations. I am especially grateful to the Irish National Caucus and Fr. Mc Manus… END.

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2. Paper trail .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Record of Lobby Efforts.

Priest and victims’ campaigner to lobby US politicians

 

By Barry McCaffrey

Irish News. Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Irishnews.com

A lifelong loyalist and a nationalist priest have formed an alliance to lobby senior politicians in the US.

Victims’ campaigner Raymond McCord has accepted an invitation from Irish National Caucus president Fr Sean McManus to visit the US next month.

Mr McCord, whose son Raymond jnr was beaten to death by the Mount Vernon UVF in 1997, will meet senior Democrat and Republican politicians in New York and Washington.

“There was a time when it would have been impossible for Raymond McCord snr to have believed that a campaigner for the rights of mistreated Catholics in Northern Ireland on Capitol Hill would become his best ally in seeking justice for his own murdered Protestant son,” Fr McManus said.

“I have been touched by Raymond’s profound love for his son and deeply impressed by his bravery and fearless integrity.”

Mr McCord said he also saw the irony in the new partnership.

“All my life I have been a staunch loyalist Protestant who believes in the union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

“I used to dismiss claims of Catholic mistreatment as mere republican propaganda.

“I could not believe that my British government and my police could be guilty of political assassinations, brutality and deadly cover-ups until it all happened to my own beloved son.

“I can only turn for justice to Fr McManus and his many friends in Congress.

“He has assured me that the US Congress will fight for my rights as hard as they have fought for the rights of Catholics in Northern Ireland.”

************

 

 

 

***************

 

RAYMOND MC CORD Sr.

        Protestant Loyalist Betrayed by British State

             Befriended by Irish Priest on Capitol Hill

CAPITOL HILL. MAY 5 , 2009 — There was a time it would have been impossible for Raymond Mc Cord Sr. to have believed it: that a veteran campaigner on Capitol Hill for the rights of mistreated Catholics in Northern Ireland would become his best ally in seeking justice for his own murdered Protestant son.

But from May 4 to May 14, 2009  Fr. Sean Mc Manus, president of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus, and Raymond Mc Cord Sr. of Belfast will be pounding the halls of Congress and singing from the same hymn-sheet – a human rights sheet that is neither Protestant nor Catholic.

“ Despite the tragic divisions in Northern Ireland, there is still a strong Ulster bond, which asserts itself when the Protestant and the Catholic each experiences British injustice”, explains Fr. Mc Manus. “Raymond’s son, Raymond Jr., was brutally murdered by a Loyalist Protestant paramilitary group in 1997 (the first betrayal) and the leader of the gang was protected in a sinister cover-up because he was a British Government agent and police informer (the second betrayal)”.

Raymond, Sr. adds: “ All my life I have been a staunch Loyalist Protestant who believes in the Union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I used to dismiss claims of Catholic mistreatment as mere Republican propaganda. I could not believe that MY British Government and MY police could be guilty of political assassinations, brutality and deadly cover-ups. Until it all happened to my own beloved son. Since Raymond Jr. was murdered, I have encountered stonewalling and obstruction from the British Government and Northern Ireland police. I can only turn for justice to Fr. Mc Manus and his many friends in Congress. He has assured me that the US Congress will fight for my rights as hard as they have fought for the rights of Catholics in Northern Ireland”.

Fr. Mc Manus added: “ I have been touched by Raymond’s profound love for his son and deeply impressed by his bravery and fearless integrity. I can pay him no higher respect when I call him, “ The Protestant Pat Finucane of Northern Ireland”. END.

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McCord gets warm welcome during Washington visit

 

BY JIM DEE

Belfast Telegraph, Wednesday, May 6 2009

AFTER a day of lobbying top Washington politicians over his campaign for an independent inquiry into his son’s 1997 murder by the UVF, Raymond McCord has spoken of how he was struck “by the depth of encouragement and support he’s found on Capital Hill”.

“Coming from Belfast, and the unionist community, no Protestant could have been made more welcome on Capital Hill than I was today,” Mr McCord told the BelfastTelegraph.

“They were so eager to hear about Raymond’s case,” added Mr McCord, who is making his second trip in as many years to drum up support for an independent inquiry into his son’s murder

“And the good thing about it is that they’re going to treat Raymond’s case the same way that they treated the Pat Finucane case,” he added. “What they were saying to me was that people from the unionist community should be afforded the same treatment.

“Mr McCord yesterday met with Congressman Richard Neal, a Massachusetts Democrat who heads the Friends of Ireland grouping in Congress, as well as New York Congressman Gary Ackerman.

“Fr Sean McManus, a Fermanagh-born priests who leads the Irish National Caucus lobbying group in Washington, told the Telegraph that McCord was “one of the most successful lobbyists I’ve ever seen in action. This hardy man from Belfast was very effective.”

“Congressman Neal has long been viewed as sympathetic to Irish nationalism, and Sinn Fein in particular. But Mr McCord said that the Massachusetts lawmaker was more sympathetic to his case than many unionist politicians back home.

“If Ritchie Neal or Fr Sean were from the unionist community, they couldn’t have treated me any better,” said Mr McCord. “And the unionist politicians back home should hang their heads in shame that I have to come to America again to pursue justice.”

During the next ten days, in addition to travelling to New York city to meet with insurance industry billionaire and peace-process-backer Bill Flynn, Mr McCord will hold meetings with leading Irish-Americans.

 

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Priest, Protestant Captivate Capitol Hill                                                                         

                 Congress Compelled by Narrative

Capitol Hill. Thursday, May 7, 2009 — For almost 40 years Members of Congress have listened to Fr. Sean Mc Manus, president of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus, detail the mistreatment of Northern Ireland Catholics by the British Army and police.

They were listening to him again this week as he raised the case of the young 22- year-old –Belfastman who was murdered in 1997. But this time Fr. Mc Manus was speaking about a murdered Protestant, Raymond Mc Cord, Jr. and he had flown in from Belfast his own expert witness

: the father of the murdered man — the formidable and compelling Raymond Mc Cord, Sr.

Mr. Mc Cord Sr. is on a two-week lobbying campaign of Capitol Hill, sponsored by the Irish National Caucus.

Mr. Mc Cord said “ For 12 years I have struggled to bring to justice the man who ordered my son’s murder. That man, Mark Haddock, has been protected because he was a government agent and a police informer and the British Government has covered-up the crime and has stonewalled and obstructed me every step of the way. I have turned to Fr. Mc Manus and his many friends in Congress for help to put pressure on the British Government”.

And Members of Congress are listening. The sight of a veteran campaigner like Fr. Mc Manus escorting a Protestant Loyalist around Congress is powerful stuff.

Mr. Mc Cord explained what he hoped to accomplish:

“ I am asking  Members of Congress for three things :

1. To co-sign a “ Dear Colleague Letter” to British Prime Minister urging him to personally meet with Raymond Mc Cord Sr.

2.To encourage a Congressional Hearing before the House Human Rights Subcommittee, Chaired by Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-MA).

3.To encourage a  Congressional Resolution calling on the   British Government to hold an Independent Public Inquiry into the murder of Raymond Mc Cord Jr. and subsequent cover-up”.

                                       CONGRESSMAN BILL DELAHUNT

After a very successful week of lobbying, Mr. Mc Cord met with Congressman Delahunt on Thursday, May 7 at 10:00 AM. “ I was deeply touched by the Congressman’s warmth and friendliness, and by his complete empathy for my son’s case. He is a lovely man and I am very hopeful he will hold a Hearing on my son’s case”.

In reference to a possible Congressional Hearing, Mr. Mc Cord added: “ It is my hope that former RUC Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan , would cooperate with the Congressional Hearing, if scheduled,  because he was in charge of the police when the man who ordered the murder of my son was a long-time police agent”.

 

 MC CORD AT BRITISH EMBASSY

                      DEEP DISAPPOINTMENT

 

CAPITOL HILL. Thursday, May 14, 2009 –After two weeks of an incredibly successful lobbying blitz of Capitol Hill, Raymond Mc Cord was handed his only disappointment.

Whereas Congressional office listened to him with openness, empathy and solidarity, the British Embassy listened to him in virtual silence.

 

Because justice and policing have not been devolved (handed back to the Northern Ireland government) the Northern Ireland Bureau—which treated Mr. Mc Cord very nicely – had to refer Mc Cord to the British Embassy—to Nic Hailey who deals with those issues for The Embassy.

Accordingly, Mr. Mc Cord, by himself, met Mr. Healey at 2:15 PM on Wednesday, May 13 at The Embassy.

“ Because I was meeting with the duly authorized person – and not with some public relations person – I was hopeful I would get some real answers on justice and policing as it relates to my son’s murder”, he said. “I was low-keyed and respectful but Mr. Hailey never answered one question. He never even tried, maintaining almost virtual silence throughout the hour meeting. And when he did speak it was to ask: whom are you meeting on Capitol Hill, do you think you are having any impact, and when are you going home? “

 

Mc Cord, clearly expressing his dissatisfaction, explained: “ See here, I am an Ulsterman, a British citizen. The British Government and the Northern Ireland police collude in the brutal murder of my son, Raymond Jr. I am given a fantastic reception on Capitol Hill.  Then I go to my own Embassy in Washington, and I get nothing, absolutely nothing. It is so disappointing to this proud Ulsterman. Hailey’s treatment of me is exactly what I get from his colleagues in the Northern Ireland Office in Belfast”.

But then, with the rugged tenacity for which he is famous, Mc Cord said: “ My treatment at the British Embassy illustrates and vindicates the need for my visit to Capitol Hill. It confirms my conviction that Congressional pressure in my son’s case is my only hope… END

 

 

More Christian Charity on Capitol Hill Than

            In Northern Ireland Churches

        — Mc Cord Declares  —

 

Capitol Hill. May 13, 2009 —- “ In 12 minutes on Capitol Hill I received more true Christian charity than I did in 12 years from the churches in Northern Ireland”.

That was the striking declaration of the man who has fought for 12 years for justice for his murdered son, Raymond Mc Cord Jr.—all the time being ignored by church leaders, ministers and priests in Northern Ireland.

Raymond Mc Cord Sr. was speaking from the offices of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus, which sponsored his two-week lobbying -blitz of the U.S. Congress.

Mr. Mc Cord Sr. was deeply moved by the empathy he received from the Congress for the case of his 22-year-old son who was murdered near Belfast in 1997. Because the man who ordered the murder was a government agent and police informer he has been protected from the law and his crime covered up.

 

“Why didn’t religious leaders, especially in my own Protestant Loyalist community, show me the same empathy and compassion I received from Jewish, Protestant and Catholic Members of Congress and their staff? Why did I have to go 3,000 miles to receive justice, mercy and kindness, which the Bible says is the hallmark of true

religion?”, he asked.

 

Anyone who knows Mr. Mc Cord knows he’s no softie. He is one of the hardest of hard men, considered  by some to be one of the best  bare-knuckle fighter in Belfast for may years

He has waged an extraordinary one-man battle to get justice for his son in the face of constant threats and danger to his life. Nothing has deterred this man’s devotion to his murdered son. Yet he was clearly  touched by his visit to Capitol Hill.

He explained: “ No church minister ever showed solidarity with my family – they were scared of the Protestant paramilitaries, the police and the British Government. They did not want to take on the establishment. Had it not been for the brave Nuala O’ Loan, former Police Ombudsman, my son’s case would have perished. But even she could only take the case so far. That is why I had to turn to America and to Fr. Sean Mc Manus, President of the Irish National Caucus, and his many friends in the US Congress”.

 

Mr. Mc Cord concluded by expressing renewed confidence that his visit to Capitol Hill will have important consequences for his son’s case.

END