COLIN WORTON      GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT?

INTRODUCTION

  1.1       British Irish rights watch is an independent non-governmental organisation and registered charity that monitors the human rights dimension of the conflict and the peace process in Northern Ireland.  Our services are available to anyone whose human rights have been affected by the conflict, regardless of religious, political or community affiliations, and we take no position on the eventual constitutional outcome of the peace process.

1.2       Colin Worton served in the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) for eight years.  In 1983 he was arrested for the murder of a Catholic, Adrian Carroll, and he signed a confession.  However, the confession was coerced from him by officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), and the case against him was dismissed.  Four of his fellow soldiers were originally convicted of the murder, although three of them were later acquitted on appeal and the fourth has had his case referred back to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.  The case became known as that of the UDR Four.  Even though Colin Worton’s army record was unblemished, his contract was not renewed.  Although under English law a defendant is innocent until proved guilty, Colin Worton has lived for twenty years under the shadow of suspicion.   He has had no opportunity to clear his name.  He spent two and a half years on remand in prison for a crime he did not commit.  This report sets out the facts of his case.

2.         the murder of adrian carroll and the murder trial

2.1       Shortly after 4:30 pm on 8^th November 1983, Adrian Carroll was shot in an alley outside his home at 10 Abbey Street, Armagh.  A single gunman shot him three times with a .38 calibre revolver that had not been used in any previous attacks.[1]  He was wounded in the head, neck and shoulder, and died at 7:20 pm that evening in hospital, never having regained consciousness.[2]  The murder was claimed by the Ulster Volunteer Force under the cover-name of the Protestant Action Force in a coded message to Downtown Radio[3].  Adrian Carroll was the brother of Roddy Carroll, an INLA member killed by an RUC Mobile Support Unit on 12^th December 1982 in one of the six shootings that later led to the “shoot-to-kill” investigation by John Stalker. [4]  Another brother was Sinn Féin councillor Tommy Carroll.  Adrian Carroll’s family have said that he was constantly harassed by the UDR in the weeks prior to his death[5].

2.2       An eyewitness, Elaine Faulkner[6], aged 17, said that she saw the gunman.  She described him as being aged between 20 and 25, 5’ 1” or 5’2” tall, with dirty fair hair tidily cut and a light moustache.  He was wearing a light blue duffel coat and a tartan or checked cap, and gold rimmed glasses.[7] 

2.3      Fourteen days after the murder, on 22^nd November 1983, a married woman, known at the trial as Witness A, gave a statement to an Armagh Priest, Father Murray.  She had worked for two and half years from 1979 to 1981 with Neil Latimer, who later joined the UDR.  She said that on the afternoon of the murder she had driven into Armagh to do some shopping with her 14-year-old son, Conor.  When she reached Armagh Technical College on Lonsdale Street, which was about 310 yards as the crow flies from the murder scene, she was forced to stop because there were two security force jeeps parked on the right hand side of the road, one of which was blocking her path.  This happened a few minutes before the murder.  She noticed a man running between two soldiers, apparently enacting an arrest.  She recognised Neil Latimer as the man in the centre in plain clothes.  He was wearing a tartan cap, brown jacket, and gold rimmed glasses, although she knew he did not normally wear glasses.  She also saw four other soldiers crouching down and pointing their weapons.  The soldiers then got into the landrovers.  Neil Latimer got into the one closest to her, which was blocking her car.  His landrover moved off first, followed by the second landrover and a third that had driven in from Windsor Place and which had flashed its headlights as the signal to move.  The vehicles were travelling back in the direction from which she had come.  Witness A said that she had heard a description of the person who shot Adrian Carroll on the 9:00pm television news that evening which matched her description of Neil Latimer but described the perpetrator as having grey hair, rather than dirty fair hair.[8]  On 2^nd December 1983 she made a similar statement to the police[9].  However, in 1992 Witness A told a Catholic priest, Father Patrick Buckley, that she knew that Neil Latimer was innocent[10].  It has also emerged that in 1964 and 1965 she was treated as a patient by St Luke’s psychiatric hospital in Armagh.  Experts who have examined her medical notes have concluded that at the time that she gave evidence in the UDR Four’s trial, she was suffering from a personality order which meant that she had a capacity to fantasise and to fabricate.  Two other matters cast doubt on her evidence.  The army convoy in which Colin Worton and Neil Latimer were travelling had driven up Lonsdale Street very shortly before Witness A claimed to have done so.  They had been delayed by roadworks, but Witness A made no mention of any roadworks[11].  Secondly, she had been driving from the post office on College Hill to a destination on Cathedral Road.  Her most direct route would have been to drive back the way she came, but instead she claimed to have taken an unnecessary detour along Lonsdale Street. Witness A died in 2000.[12]

2.4      Elaine Faulkner later told the court that the man whom she saw was definitely not Neil Latimer, who lived on the same housing estate as her and with whom she was acquainted.  She described the gunman as being a short man, while Neil Latimer was around 5’10” tall. [13]  She said that she and the gunman had glanced at one another[14], so she clearly saw his face.

2.5      Neil Latimer was arrested at his home on 29^th November 1983.  During his third interview on that day he confessed to being the gunman, but refused to name anyone else who was involved.  On 30^th November he retracted his confession, but on 2^nd December he confessed again and named the soldiers involved, including Colin Worton and James Hegan, whom he later confronted at Castlereagh Police Office.  On 1^st December Colin Worton was arrested, and on 5^th December he confessed to involvement in the murder.  Noel Bell was arrested on 2^nd December and confessed on that same evening.  James Hegan was arrested on 3rd December and confessed on 6^th December.  Winston Allen was arrested on 5^th December and signed a confession on 6^th December.[15]

2.6       In 1986 Neil Latimer, Noel Bell, James Hegan, Winston Allen and Colin Worton stood trial for the murder of Adrian Carroll.  A sixth man, David McMullen, was charged with withholding information and also stood trial.

2.7       The prosecution case against the five soldiers was as follows.  They knew that Adrian Carroll worked as a painter and that each afternoon he walked home to Abbey Street.  They decided to kill him on 8^th November 1983.  They paraded for duty at around 12:30 pm that day at Drumadd Barracks in Armagh.  At about 1:30 pm they left the barracks in four landrovers to carry out searches in the Moy Road area just outside the city.  Towards the end of the second search, Winston Allen drove one of the landrovers back into the city, with Neil Latimer and Sgt Rolston on board.  They drove to Lonsdale Street, where they dropped Neil Latimer off at the technical college, where he changed into civilian clothes.  Allen and Rolston went back to join the search in the Moy Road area.  Some time after 4:00 pm the four land rovers returned to the RUC station on Newry Road, passing through Lonsdale Street en route.  Two of the landrovers stopped by the technical college. The first of these was driven by James Hegan and had Colin Worton on board. The second was driven by Winston Allen and had Noel Bell and David McMullan on board.  There they picked up Neil Latimer in a fake arrest, carried out by Colin Worton and Noel Bell.  James Hegan then drove his landrover, with Neil Latimer, Colin Worton and Noel Bell aboard, along the Mall to Pinkerton’s yard, where Neil Latimer got out.  He walked through Pinkerton’s yard to McCrum’s Court, where Adrian Carroll signed off from work each day.  Neil Latimer waited for Adrian Carroll, followed him home, and shot him.  Neil Latimer then went to College Street where the landrover was waiting for him and climbed into the back.  James Hegan then drove to Newry Road RUC station, while Neil Latimer changed back into his uniform.[16] 

2.8       The prosecution produced no evidence of any motive for this most unusual and risky murder.  There are a number of features that cast doubt on the prosecution’s account.  Colin Worton says that they never knew until they reported for duty each day what tasks would be assigned to them, or where they would be going.  It would thus have been extremely difficult for them to plan any murder, let alone one that was so dependent on accurate timing, and which was described by the trial judge as “premeditated and clever”[17].  Colin Worton points out that prior to the murder they had been conducting a search in an isolated rural area.  If they had wanted to change into civilian clothes it would have been far simpler and easier to do so in the country than in the middle of the town.[18]  A workmate of Adrian Carroll, George Darling, told the court that he was walking about 20 yards behind Adrian Carroll and watched him walk up Abbey Street, but saw no-one following him, as Neil Latimer is alleged to have done[19].   A gardener, James Allen, who was working at the Archbishop’s residence in Cathedral Close, observed a dark navy blue Ford Cortina containing two people driving away down the Close at high speed just after he heard the shots that killed Adrian Carroll.  The car had been stolen on in Belfast 8^th September 1983 and had been fitted with false number plates.  A car fitting that description was later found abandoned nearby in Market Square.[20]  No forensic evidence was found to link the car to the murder[21], but if, as Neil Latimer asserts, he did not commit the murder, then this vehicle may have been the getaway car.

2.9      During the trial, the judge found that Colin Worton’s confession was inadmissible.  There was no other evidence against him and he was acquitted on 30^th May 1986.  David McMullan was also found not guilty on direction by the judge on 6^th June 1986.  The other four soldiers were convicted on 1^st July 1986.  They appealed but on 4^th May 1988 but their convictions were upheld.

2.10    On 25^th July 1991 the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Brooke MP, referred the four soldiers’ convictions back to the Court of Appeal under s. 14 (1) (a) of the Criminal Appeal (Northern Ireland) Act 1980 after their original police interview notes had been subjected to ESDA[22] testing.  The results showed eighteen instances of subsequent re-writing of those notes.  The Crown accepted and the Court of Appeal found that police officers had lied to the court at the original trial when they said the notes had not been re-written, and that senior officers had falsely authenticated re-written notes as if they were originals.[23]  On 29^th July 1992 the Court of Appeal, led by the then Lord Chief Justice, found that nothing in the ESDA results invalidated Neil Latimer’s confession or their acceptance of Witness A’s evidence.  They rejected Elaine Faulkner’s evidence that the gunman was not Latimer.  However, in the cases of James Hegan, Noel Bell and Winston Allen, the court held that the alterations to the police statements and the false authentications undermined the reliability of their confessions, especially in view of the strong conflict of evidence between that of the RUC officers and the defendants about the circumstances in which those confessions were made.  Their convictions were quashed.  On 15^th May 2001 the Criminal Cases Review Commission referred Neil Latimer’s case back to the Court of Appeal as a potential miscarriage of justice.

3.         the case of colin worton

3.1      Colin Worton was arrested on 1^st December 1983.  He says that he was stunned by his arrest.  He had no idea why he, a serving soldier, was being questioned about the murder of Adrian Carroll.  During his interrogations, RUC officers threatened that he would go to jail for 15 to 20 years, and that his girlfriend (who later married him) would marry and have someone else’s children.[24]  Colin Worton was so badly affected by this pressure that he actually made his will while he was in Castlereagh.  The RUC sought to deny this, but later had to admit that it was the case.  He also went on hunger strike and at one point threatened to kill himself.  The trial judge, in acquitting Colin Worton, described him as “a very strange young man”, “an odd fish”  who was found in personality tests to be “emotionally unstable, shy, timid and ineffectual”. [25]  In other words, Colin Worton was highly vulnerable.  He was particularly vulnerable to taunts about his girlfriend, to whom he was very much attached, which quickly aroused strong feelings of jealousy and insecurity on his part.  He was only 23 years of age and was a somewhat immature young man at that time.

3.2      The other defendants also claimed to have come under unacceptable pressure during RUC interrogations.  Noel Bell said that he had been assaulted by two RUC officers, and that afterwards a senior detective who had been interrogating Neil Latimer came into the interview room and dictated Bell’s confession to another officer.[26]

3.3      Neil Latimer said that RUC officers continually shouted at him that he was guilty. They threatened him with a long jail sentence and said that both his parents would be dead by the time he got out of prison.  They accused him of being responsible for the murders of William Brown, John Cunningham, and David Wilson, killed on 20^th November 1983 in an attack by INLA on worshippers at the Darkley Pentecostal Church, apparently in retaliation for the murder of Adrian Carroll.  One of the victims was related to Neil Latimer.  The RUC also offered inducements.  They told Neil Latimer that he would get out of Castlereagh and would ultimately get bail if he confessed.  At his trial, Latimer described himself as “petrified” of the police.  At one point, at the prompting of the detectives, Latimer even suggested that his own brother, David, was involved in the murder.  Not only did he implicate his fellow soldiers, but he also confronted them, at the RUC’s request, thus contributing to the pressure on them to confess also.[27]

3.4      On 3^rd December Neil Latimer signed his second confession statement.  At an interview that took place between 2:45 and 3:15 pm that day, RUC Detective Sergeant O’Sullivan asked Neil Latimer if he was prepared to confront Colin Worton, which he agreed to do.  At 3:05 pm DS O’Sullivan escorted Neil Latimer to another interview room, where Colin Worton was being questioned by two other officers.  O’Sullivan asked Latimer, “Do you know this man?”  Latimer replied, “Colin Worton.”  O’Sullivan then asked Worton, “Do you know this man, Colin?”  Worton replied, “Neil – Neil Latimer.”  O’Sullivan said to Latimer, “Neil, have you made a statement about the shooting of Adrian Carroll?”  Latimer replied, “I have…” but was interrupted by Worton, who shouted, “Look at me when you are telling lies!”  Latimer said, “I wrote it in a statement about the shooting.  That is the truth.”  Worton shouted, “Thanks, Neil, lying c***!”[28]

3.5      Colin Worton held out until 5^th December, but on that day he too signed a confession.

3.6      David Ervine MLA, who acts as a spokesman for the UVF, has stated that Colin Worton was never a member of the UVF or the Protestant Action Force, and was not involved in the murder of Adrian Carroll.  In April 1990 the PAF issued the following statement:

            “We the Protestant Action Force, in a hitherto unprecedented step, having been approached by concerned people with reference to a recent appeal court decision, wish to state that the 4 UDR soldiers convicted of the murder of well known Republican Adrian Carroll have not, and never had any, connection with this organisation

           None of these men had any prior knowledge of events concerning the assassination of Adrian Carroll

           The operation was, throughout its entirety, carried out using Volunteers of the PAF and was later claimed by this organisation using authenticated codewords.

           The security of our Volunteers must take precedence over all else.  This being the case, we unfortunately cannot point out certain discrepancies in the evidence against the convicted men.

            Whilst we realise that this statement will be totally inadequate in trying to right a gross miscarriage of justice, we can only hope it may help to ease some of the distress being suffered by their family and friends. we must point out that we feel the ultimate responsibility for the plight of these men lies, not with us but with a system that can allow 4 innocent men to be coerced into admitting to an offence they did not commit.”[29]

           They put out a similar statement in August 1992 after Neil Latimer lost his appeal[30].

3.7      Under English law, a defendant is innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.  There can be absolutely no doubt that Colin Worton is an innocent man; he was acquitted by a court of law.  However, unlike his co-defendants, his case has never been thoroughly examined and he has not received any compensation for the ordeal that he suffered.

3.8      Colin Worton joined the army in March 1979.  His initial engagement ran for three years, and was renewed for a further three years. In March 1985 and again in March 1986 the army further renewed his appointment for further one year periods.  He was acquitted in May 1986.  In March 1987, the army terminated his employment.[31]  No reason was given by his commanding officer for deciding not to renew his contract; he was not obliged to give his reasons[32].  Colin Worton’s Certificate of Service from the army described his military conduct as “very good”.  The testimonial on his discharge papers, signed by his commanding officer, reads as follows:

            “Private Worton is a smart reliable soldier.  He has been employed in the transport section where he willingly undertook all duties given to him.  He is a well settled married man with a sensible level of maturity.  I believe he would be well suited for employment as a driver, storeman, or any other post connected with transport.”

3.9       His papers provide no clue as to why, having returned to the UDR when he released from jail, and having served a further ten months as a soldier, his contract was not renewed.  It can only be assumed that, since at that time his fellow soldiers were still in prison, the army deemed Colin Worton to be guilty by association, despite his acquittal.  Other soldiers who have actually been convicted of murder by the courts, such as Mark Wright and James Fisher who killed Peter McBride, and Lee Clegg, initially convicted but subsequently acquitted of the murder of Karen Reilly, have not only been retained in the army but, in Lee Clegg’s case, have even been promoted.  In their cases, the army could have been said to be looking after its own.  Not so, however, in Colin Worton’s case.

3.10    Colin Worton was arrested on 1^st December 1983.  The case against him was dismissed on 30^th May 1986.  He spent the intervening two and a half years in prison on remand, except for four days in March 1984, when he was granted bail in order to marry.  The three UDR men who were acquitted on appeal in 1991 – James Hegan, Noel Bell and Winston Allen – all received compensation for the years they spent in prison.  Colin Worton has received nothing.

4.         CONCLUSION

4.1       Sixty seven members of the Northern Ireland Assembly, including members of all the unionist political parties, the Alliance Party, the Women’s Coalition, MPs and MEPs, have signed a petition calling for a full independent inquiry into Colin Worton’s case.

4.2       For many years Colin Worton believed that, so long as any of the original four convictions stood, no-one would believe that he was truly innocent.  The army’s decision to terminate his career was a blow from which he has never fully recovered.  His experience at the hands of the RUC shattered his faith in the police.  Now that three of his former comrades have been acquitted and the fourth has had his case referred back to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, he hopes that there may be some light at the end of the tunnel and it may after all be possible for him to completely clear his name.

April 2003

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