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BILLY WRIGHT INQUIRY
Second Preliminary Hearing, 13th December 2005
Since its opening hearing on Wednesday 22nd June the Billy Wright Inquiry, the Secretary of State has acceded to the request by Lord MacLean, who chairs the Inquiry, to convert the statutory basis for the Inquiry from the Prison Act (Northern Ireland) 1953 to the Inquiries Act 2005.
The purpose of this second preliminary hearing was to explain progress to date and future plans. It took place at 10:30 am in the Europa hotel in Belfast and lasted under one hour. It was attended by British Irish rights watch’s Director, Jane Winter. In due course a full transcript of the hearing should be available on the Inquiry’s website (www.billywrightinquiry.org).
Billy Wright’s family did not attend because they have lodged judicial review proceedings to challenge the Secretary of State’s decision to convert the inquiry. Lord MacLean did not refer to the family’s absence, nor to their legal challenge.
The Chair explained that at the opening hearing he had said that the inquiry panel hoped to begin holding oral hearings in Spring 2006. However, delays meant that the earliest date for hearings now was September 2006.
Lord MacLean said there were toe principle reasons for the delay. The first was the time it had taken to convert the Inquiry. He had made his request of the Secretary of State on 13th July 2005, but a number of people had made representations opposing the conversion and the Secretary of State, Peter Hain MP, did not give the go-ahead for the conversion until 23rd November 2005. The Inquiry panel remained of the view that conversion to the Inquiries Act better suited the purposes of the Inquiry, especially given the width of its scope.
The second reason for delay was that government agencies had been the slow response by government agencies to requests by the Inquiry for information and documents. Lord MacLean said, “I will not, at this stage, give specific examples of the extent of co-operation which the inquiry team has or has not received from the parties we are charged with investigating, namely the prison authorities or other state agencies. I will assure everyone, however, that comment will be made in due course in the report of the inquiry on some of the difficulties we have encountered in the process of identification, collation and production of evidence that may be relevant to our work.”
The Chair said that it in the previous week the Inquiry had issued a number of formal notices for the production of documents within 28 days.
The Chair said that he wishes to make it evident that the Inquiry’s search for evidence had been through and wide-ranging. He emphasised that where someone has died in the custody of the state the full facts must be brought into the public light and a satisfactory and convincing explanation of how the death occurred must be obtained.
Due to the lack of documentation obtained so far, it had been necessary to build up a picture of who was responsible for particular functions at the relevant time, and how the various agencies involved interacted with one another. A large number of witnesses had been identified from whom statements would be sought, but this would take time, and may involve re-interviewing some people. Lord MacLean described this process as one of “precognition”.
The Inquiry panel would need to engage experts to advise them on, for example, the political context in which the murder of Billy Wright took place.
When all witness statements and expert evidence has been collated, an electronic bundle of documents will be made available to all interested parties, although some documents may need to be redacted. The Inquiry panel, however, will see all documents in full.
It is the Inquiry’s intention to make as much information public as possible. The Secretary of State had written to the Chair to say that He had no present intention of issuing any Restriction Notices under the Inquiries Act 2005, which might limit the making public of information or the ability of the general public to attend hearings. However, the fact of paramilitary involvement did give rise to questions of anonymity and safety. The Inquiry intends to deal with such issues on a case-by-case basis. All applications for screening or anonymity must be made in writing and give reasons. The Inquiry will have regard to how much information is already in the public domain when considering such applications.
The Inquiry does not have the power to grant immunity from prosecution. Anyone wanting such immunity must apply to the Inquiry in writing and give their reasons, and, if the Inquiry thinks fit, it will pass on such requests to the Attorney General, who will make the ultimate decision. As for disciplinary matters, the Chair said that this was strictly an employer/employee issue.
In addition to the four parties the Inquiry had already granted rights of representation (David Wright, the Northern Ireland Prison Service, the PSNI and the Prison Officers Association), it had also decided to give such rights to Governor William McKee, who was the governor on duty at the Maze prison when Billy Wright was murdered. Applications by McWilliams, Kennaway and Glennon, who were convicted of carrying out the murder of Billy Wright, and Raymond Hill, who was the prison officer who was stood town from the watch tower on the day of the murder, were still pending.
Negotiations for a Belfast venue for the hearings were nearing their conclusion and details would be announced on the Inquiry’s website soon. In the meantime, the Inquiry has a temporary Belfast office in Francis House, 9 – 11 Brunswick Street. However, all correspondence should continue to be addressed to the Edinburgh office, the address of which is on the website.
Hearings would commence in September 2006 at the earliest and were expected to last well into 2007. The Inquiry will sit Monday to Friday and will hear five to five-and-a-half hours’ evidence each day. Normally sittings will be from 10:00 until 4:30 pm, but these times may have to be varied on Mondays and Fridays to take account of travel arrangements.
Lord MacLean then invited questions. Only one member of the public spoke, who was the Rev Kenny McClinton, a reformed loyalist paramilitary who described himself as a friend of Billy Wright. He read out the following statement:
“Ref: ‘List of issues for consideration by the Inquiry’ document, by Chairman Maclean - my personal comments:
Part 1: I also believe the Inquiry must consider all of the facts and circumstances relevant to the death of Billy Wright in the Maze Prison on 27th December 1997.
This should include ‘all of the facts and circumstances relevant’ to Mr Wright’s murder, PRIOR to Mr Wright’s conviction by the courts; the conviction itself; and the extraordinary sentence of 8 years given by the courts for what is seen by many in our society as a yet unproven verbal threat against a less than credible court witness.
The Inquiry’s deliberations should take into consideration Mr Wright’s own personal belief that he was being actively targeted by sections of the State’s Security Services for assassination because of his open opposition to perceived British/Irish Government’s attempts to bring about a 32 County United Ireland by stealth and political manipulations, and in spite of the democratic will of a majority of Ulster’s citizens - as evidenced in the tape-recording of Mr Wright’s social and political views which I have already brought to the attention of the Inquiry.
I believe the ‘…political context in Northern Ireland…’ prior to Mr Wright’s murder in the Maze Prison is absolutely relevant to any understanding of the circumstances surrounding the murder of Mr Wright.
Therefore, in order to fully ‘determine whether any intentional act or omission facilitated the death…’, the Inquiry must investigate the entire relevant context of this heinous killing - with particular emphasis on a political meeting which took place between the British Prime Minister, John Major, and the P.U.P. and U.D.P. political parties at 10 Downing Street in the early summer of 1996, and what people currently believe was openly discussed there reference ‘…the Wright problem…’ (Inquiry needs to obtain Minutes of Meeting from Downing Street Secretary)
Part 2: Reference the Inquiry’s particular efforts to ‘…establish the facts and circumstances surrounding’ sub-clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and especially sub-clause 8 ‘any warning given or concerns expressed to the Prison authorities by Prison staff or others in respect of the security of Billy Wright…’ - I believe my own personal correspondence, written and verbal telephone call evidence with the then Secretary of State, the late Dr Mowlam; the Maghaberry Prison authorities; and face to face discussion between Mr Wright, myself and Maze Governor McKee (?) at the Maze Prison in order to settle the LVF riot situation in 1997, are absolutely vital as evidence of , at least, gross neglect, and complete denial of the duty of care reference the safety of Mr Wright and the other inmates which were eventually housed in D wing H-block 6.
Important Note: On a visit with Mr Billy Wright in the company of the late Mr Mark Fulton on December 23rd 1997 at the Maze Prison, the late Mr Wright told me that he firmly believed that agents of the British/Irish Governments, in collusion with ‘certain Loyalists working as paid informants’ and members of the I.N.L.A. were about to kill him inside the Maze Prison.
The stark fact cries out to all in our society that Billy Wright was brutally murdered in H-block 6, a mere four days later, on December 27th 1997.”
Lord MacLean responded that the panel had listened carefully to what he had to say. He pointed out that he himself had emphasised the seriousness of any death in state custody. He also said that the Inquiry may ask Rev McClinton for a witness statement.
For Peace Justice & Human Rights
