Winston ‘Winkie’ Rea: Police win right to hear Boston tapes: battle moves to Supreme Court

Winston ‘Winkie’ Rea: Police win right to hear Boston tapes
BBC News
27 February 2015

Police have won the right to listen to Boston College interviews by loyalist Winston “Winkie” Rea.

However, for now, the tapes remain secret to allow for a possible appeal.

On Friday, police were in court with a bag to take away the tapes – but were told to wait in case Winston Rea’s legal team appeals to the Supreme Court.

Mr Rea is among dozens of loyalists and republicans who provided testimonies to Boston College’s Belfast Project.

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What are the ‘Boston tapes’?

Dozens of former paramilitaries were interviewed in Belfast and other cities and towns from 2001-2006 as part of an oral history project known as the Belfast Project.

Details about internal politics and activities of the IRA were revealed on tape, including accounts of a hunger strike in prison in the 1980s.

Overall, the project cost about $200,000 (£118,520), mostly provided by an Irish-American businessman.

Each interview was transcribed, sent by encrypted email to New York and then the material was sent to Boston College, where it was placed under lock and key at Burns Library.

Following a lengthy legal battle with the college, the Police Service of Northern Ireland gained access to a small number of the interviews in 2013.

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The interviews were given to researchers compiling an oral history of the Northern Ireland Troubles, on the understanding that tapes would not be made public until after their deaths.

However, in 2013, detectives investigating the 1972 abduction and murder of Belfast mother-of-10 Jean McConville secured the transcripts of former IRA woman Dolours Price’s account.

The material was handed over following court battles on both sides of the Atlantic.

In January 2015, Mr Rea, a former prisoner and son-in-law of the late UVF leader Gusty Spence, secured a temporary injunction as police flew out to collect tapes from his interviews.

He is seeking to judicially review the Public Prosecution Service’s attempts to obtain his interviews.

He claims that a subpoena for the material is unlawful and lacking in any specifics about why it is being sought.

Boston College: PSNI win access to Winston Rea’s interviews – but tapes still to remain under lock and key

Boston College: PSNI win access to Winston Rea’s interviews – but tapes still to remain under lock and key
By Alan Erwin
BelfastTelegraph.co.uk
27 February 2015

A former loyalist prisoner today lost his latest legal bid to stop police accessing interviews he gave to an American university project – but the tapes are still to remain under lock and key.

Judges at the Court of Appeal rejected Winston “Winkie” Rea’s claims that the material should not be handed over to detectives investigating murder and other paramilitary crimes because it would breach his right to privacy.

However, they also ordered the Boston College recordings should not be disclosed pending the outcome of a planned Supreme Court challenge to their decision.

The tapes will remain in secure storage at the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast until Rea’s final legal options are exhausted.

PSNI detectives had been in court ready to take possession of them in the same bag in which they were brought back from the United States.

Rea was among dozens of loyalists and republicans who provided testimonies to Boston College researchers compiling an oral history of the Northern Ireland conflict.

Interviews were given on the understanding that tapes would not be made public until after their deaths.

But those assurances were dealt a blow in 2013 when detectives investigating the abduction and murder of Belfast mother-of-ten Jean McConville back in 1972 secured the transcripts of former IRA woman Dolours Price’s account.

That material was handed over following court battles on both sides of the Atlantic.

Rea, a son-in-law of the late UVF leader Gusty Spence, claimed a subpoena for his tapes is unlawful and unspecific.

During judicial review proceedings the court was told an investigation has been launched into serious crimes stretching from the seventies to the late nineties.

The alleged offences include murder, directing terrorism, membership of a proscribed organisation and robbery.

An international request for the tapes said police have information that Rea was a member of the Red Hand Commando whose interviews would assist investigations into those crimes.

Earlier this month a High Court judge threw out his challenge after holding that the legal test for seeking the material had been met.

Following that verdict two PSNI detectives boarded a flight to Boston to collect the recordings.

But with their flight mid-Atlantic Rea’s legal team secured a last-minute order restraining any handover while they contested the ruling.

In the appeal hearing counsel for the loyalist argued that prosecuting authorities were acting on a hunch rather than any firm knowledge that the tapes contain information relevant to any investigation.

He also claimed the request, made under the Crime (International Co-operation) Act, breached Rea’s right to privacy under European law.

However, a barrister representing the Public Prosecution Service claimed Rea had no reasonable expectation of privacy around what he told the Boston researchers.

The three judges hearing the appeal agreed to lift the injunction so that PSNI officers travelling back from Boston could bring the unopened tapes with them.

The material was to be deposited with the American Consulate and remain on American territory until a decision is given in the appeal.

Those arrangements were then changed so that the sealed container was taken to be guarded by senior officers at the courts.

Delivering judgment in the appeal today, Lord Justice Coghlin said: “Even on the assumption that the issue of the International Letter of Request may have infringed the applicant’s right to privacy, we are entirely satisfied that any such interference was in accordance with law and necessary in the interests of prevention of crime.

“Accordingly, the application will be dismissed.”

Following the verdict Rea’s barrister, Ronan Lavery QC, confirmed plans to go to the Supreme Court in London and sought an order for the tapes to remain out of police hands until then.

He said: “The detectives are ready in the building to receive the tapes.”

Although Lord Justice Coghlin acknowledged there are victims seeking a resolution, he ruled that the recordings should not be handed over yet.

“There will be an order that the materials are not disclosed to the PSNI, and be kept where they are at the minute in a secure place in this building.”

Boston tapes will not be held in US Consulate in Belfast

Boston tapes will not be held in US Consulate in Belfast
Judge varies order due to difficulties lodging sealed container with US representatives
Alan Erwin
Irish Times
Sat, Feb 14, 2015

Sealed tapes of interviews given by a former loyalist prisoner to a university project will not now be held on American territory in Belfast.

Senior judges had ordered that PSNI detectives could fly back from Boston on Saturday with the recordings Winston ‘Winkie’ Rea is battling to stop them from inspecting.

They had directed that the testimonies remain unopened and be handed over to the US Consulate in Belfast until a decision was reached in the legal action.

However, those conditions were varied late last night due to difficulties in arranging to have the sealed container lodged with American representatives.

Instead, an amended order was made for the tapes to be taken to the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast and placed in secure storage there.

Mr Rea’s lawyers have expressed deep concern at the new plans which mean the recordings will no longer be on US soil.

In correspondence to the Crown Solicitors Office one of his legal representatives said: “We are not happy with the tapes being within the jurisdiction as this could lead to an abuse of process.”

Mr Rea is appealing a failed High Court bid to prevent police investigating murder and other paramilitary crimes from accessing the tapes.

He was among dozens of loyalists and republicans who provided testimonies to Boston College researchers compiling an oral history of the Northern Ireland conflict.

Interviews were given on the understanding that tapes would not be made public until after their deaths.

But those assurances were dealt a blow in 2013 when detectives investigating the abduction and murder of Belfast mother-of-ten Jean McConville back in 1972 secured the transcripts of former IRA woman Dolours Price’s account.

That material was handed over following court battles on both sides of the Atlantic.

Mr Rea, a son-in-law of the late UVF leader Gusty Spence, claimed a subpoena for his tapes was unlawful and unspecific.

During judicial review proceedings the court was told an investigation has been launched into serious crimes stretching from the seventies to the late nineties.

The alleged offences include murder, directing terrorism, membership of a proscribed organisation and robbery.

An international request for the tapes said police have information that alleged Mr Rea had been a member of the Red Hand Commando whose interviews would assist investigations into those crimes.

On Monday Mr Justice Treacy threw out his challenge after holding that the legal test for seeking the material had been met.

Following that verdict two PSNI detectives boarded a flight to Boston to collect the recordings.

But with their flight over the Atlantic Mr Rea’s legal team secured a last-minute order restraining any handover while they contested the ruling.

In the Court of Appeal on Friday counsel for the loyalist, argued that prosecuting authorities were acting on a hunch rather than any firm knowledge that the tapes contained information relevant to any investigation.

He also claimed the request, made under the Crime (International Co-operation) Act, breached Mr Rea’s right to privacy under European law.

However, a barrister representing the Public Prosecution Service claimed Mr Rea had no reasonable expectation of privacy around what he told the Boston researchers.

The three judges hearing the appeal reserved their decision until early next week.

At that stage they agreed to lift the injunction so that PSNI officers travelling back from Boston today can bring the unopened tapes with them.

The material was to be deposited with the American Consulate and remain on American territory until a decision is given in the appeal.

Now, however, the sealed container will be guarded by senior court officers.

Mr Rea’s solicitor, Kevin Winters, stressed: “We have asked for an affidavit confirming the safe receipt of the tapes and that they are sealed and in the possession of the court.”

Winston Rea Boston College tapes to be stored at Belfast court

Winston Rea Boston College tapes to be stored at Belfast court
Winston Rea was among dozens of loyalists and republicans who provided testimonies to Boston College researchers for an oral history of the Northern Ireland conflict
BBC News
14 February 2015

Sealed tapes of interviews given by a former loyalist prisoner to a university project will not now be held on American territory in Belfast.

Winston Rea was one of dozens of former paramilitaries who provided testimonies about the Northern Ireland Troubles to Boston College’s Belfast Project.

Mr Rea is trying to stop police from listening to the tapes.

The sealed tapes will now be stored at the Royal Courts of Justice rather than the US consulate building in Belfast.

Senior judges had ordered that PSNI detectives could fly back from Boston on Saturday with the recordings.

They directed that the testimonies must remain unopened and then be handed over to the US Consulate in Belfast until a decision is reached in the legal action.

But those conditions were varied late on Friday night due to difficulties in arranging to have the sealed container lodged with American representatives.

Mr Rea is appealing a failed High Court bid to prevent police investigating murder and other paramilitary crimes from accessing the tapes.

‘Not happy’

His lawyers expressed concern at the new plans that mean the recordings will no longer be on US soil.

In correspondence to the Crown Solicitors Office, one of his legal representatives said: “We are not happy with the tapes being within the jurisdiction as this could lead to an abuse of process.”

The interviews to Boston College were given on the understanding that tapes would not be made public until after the former paramilitaries’ deaths.

But those assurances were dealt a blow in 2013 when detectives investigating the abduction and murder of Belfast mother-of-ten Jean McConville back in 1972 secured the transcripts of former IRA woman Dolours Price’s account.

That material was handed over following court battles on both sides of the Atlantic.

Mr Rea claimed a subpoena for his tapes is unlawful and unspecific.

During judicial review proceedings the court was told an investigation has been launched into serious crimes stretching from the seventies to the late nineties.

The alleged offences include murder, directing terrorism, membership of a proscribed organisation and robbery.

An international request for the tapes said police have information that Rea was a member of the Red Hand Commando whose interviews would assist investigations into those crimes.

On Monday, a judge in Belfast threw out Mr Rea’s challenge to police accessing the tapes after holding that the legal test for seeking the material had been met.

Mid-Atlantic

Following that verdict two PSNI detectives boarded a flight to Boston to collect the recordings.

But with their flight mid-Atlantic Mr Rea’s legal team secured a last-minute order restraining any handover while they contested the ruling.

In the Court of Appeal on Friday counsel for the loyalist argued that prosecuting authorities were acting on a hunch rather than any firm knowledge that the tapes contain information relevant to any investigation.

He also claimed the request, made under the Crime (International Co-operation) Act, breached Mr Rea’s right to privacy under European law.

However, a barrister representing the Public Prosecution Service claimed Rea had no reasonable expectation of privacy around what he told the Boston researchers.

The three judges hearing the appeal reserved their decision until early next week.

At that stage they agreed to lift the injunction so that PSNI officers travelling back from Boston on Saturday can bring the unopened tapes with them.

The material was to be deposited with the American Consulate and remain on American territory until a decision is given in the appeal.

Now, however, the sealed container will be guarded by senior court officers.

Boston College tapes: Winston Rea’s interviews to be flown back from America but police must not examine contents

Boston College tapes: Winston Rea’s interviews to be flown back from America but police must not examine contents
By Alan Erwin
BelfastTelegraph.co.uk
13 February 2015

Police are to be allowed to fly back from America with the interviews a former loyalist prisoner gave to a university project – but they must not examine the contents.

The Court of Appeal lifted an injunction so that two PSNI detectives in Boston can return tomorrow with the tapes Winston “Winkie” Rea is battling to stop them from inspecting.

Senior judges ordered that the recordings are to remain sealed and then handed over to the US Consultate in Belfast until a decision is reached in the legal action.

Rea is appealing a failed High Court bid to prevent police investigating murder and other paramilitary crimes from accessing the tapes.

Interviews were given on the understanding that tapes would not be made public until after their deaths.

But those assurances were dealt a blow in 2013 when detectives investigating the abduction and murder of Belfast mother-of-ten Jean McConville back in 1972 secured the transcripts of former IRA woman Dolours Price’s account.

That material was handed over following court battles on both sides of the Atlantic.

Rea, a son-in-law of the late UVF leader Gusty Spence, claimed a subpoena for his tapes is unlawful and unspecific.

During judicial review proceedings the court was told an investigation has been launched into serious crimes stretching from the seventies to the late nineties.

The alleged offences include murder, directing terrorism, membership of a proscribed organisation and robbery.

An international request for the tapes said police have information that Rea was a member of the Red Hand Commando whose interviews would assist investigations into those crimes.

On Monday Mr Justice Treacy threw out his challenge after holding that the legal test for seeking the material had been met.

Following that verdict two PSNI detectives boarded a flight to Boston to collect the recordings.

But with their flight mid-Atlantic Rea’s legal team secured a last-minute order restraining any handover while they contested the ruling.

In the Court of Appeal today Ronan Lavery QC, for the loyalist, argued that prosecuting authorities were acting on a hunch rather than any firm knowledge that the tapes contain information relevant to any investigation.

He also claimed the request, made under the Crime (International Co-operation) Act, breached Rea’s right to privacy under European law.

“This cannot be a charter to snoop on material that falls outside the EU guidelines,” Mr Lavery contended.

However, Peter Coll QC, representing the Public Prosecution Service, claimed Rea had no reasonable expectation of privacy around what he told the Boston researchers.

He argued: “He was not given a cast-iron, boiler-plated guarantee that whatever he said would, until the time of his death, be protected from all outside influences.”

The three judges hearing the appeal reserved their decision until sometime early next week.

But they agreed to a request by Tony McGleenan QC, for the Chief Constable, that the officers scheduled to travel back from Boston tomorrow be allowed to bring the unopened tapes with them.

Based on an undertaking given on behalf of the PSNI, Lord Justice Coghlin confirmed the injunction would be lifted.

He emphasised: “The material that the college is prepared to surrender in answer to this request is handed to police officers in sealed containers upon which the seals can be clearly seen.

“It follows from that if they are interfered with that can also be seen.”

The judge further ordered: “These materials must travel with them from the United States to Belfast where they are to be deposited with the American Consulate and remain on American territory until we give a decision.”

Policing Politics: Dealing with the Past an Ongoing PSNI Train Wreck

Policing Politics: Dealing with the Past an Ongoing PSNI Train Wreck
Balaclava Street
13 February, 2015

The recent tribulations surrounding the PSNI’s attempts to gain access to Winston Rea’s Belfast Project tapes are yet another dismal but unsurprising instalment in this episodic train wreck.

As noted by Ed Moloney, it reeks of counter-balancing, a politically-motivated attempt at even-handedness after the previous arrests of Gerry Adams, Ivor Bell, and other republicans.

This entire debacle, brought about by Boston College’s bogus guarantees and failure to protect the project, highlights the patchwork, expedient nature of the Belfast Agreement, which has left a legacy of ad hoc, unfocused, and at times contradictory attempts to deal with the past and the issue of historical offences.

Is this pursuit of the BC tapes in keeping with the spirit of early release, OTR amnesties, paramilitants in government, and the like? With the first prime minister in possibly 50 years with no apparent interest in Northern Ireland, is Downing St even aware of the damage this is causing?

After the undignified arrest of a decrepit and visibly infirm Ivor Bell, the PSNI have now zeroed in on Rea, another pensioner in ill health.

The irony is that the Red Hand Commando, the organisation he is accused of leading, is to date – and I’m willing to be corrected – the only paramilitary group which has completely disbanded.

The only remnant of its existence is an “Old Comrades” association. What sort of message does this send out at a time when the UVF and UDA are trying to persuade loyalists to engage with conflict transformation initiatives?

It is no exaggeration to say that the PSNI’s Belfast Project vendetta represents an attack on source confidentiality, a cornerstone of journalistic, academic, and historical research.

Indeed, if we are now operating on the principle that there is no such thing as academic or journalistic confidentiality, why not raid the offices of, say, the Sunday World? Wouldn’t their informants, plied with drink and cash-stuffed envelopes, be a more appropriate target, given that they would have information on current rather than historical offences?

In fact, why not pull in every author who has published a book on the Troubles and compel them to reveal their sources? As low down in the food chain as I am, even I have noticed a degree of reluctance amongst sources and potential interviewees who have cited the BC affair as the source of their concerns.

The latest counter-balancing exercise obscures the fact that an even-handed approach to investigating the crimes of the Troubles is a political chimera.

The unique relationship between the Provisional IRA and Sinn Fein, with dual membership and army-to-party transitions commonplace, means that any wide-ranging investigation into the “army” will at some point inevitably stumble across figures who are presently prominent or senior within the “party”, specifically Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland.

The ramifications of such an occurrence are easy to imagine. As such, political necessity will likely dictate that police attention continues to focus upon both loyalists and republican dissenters.

When the stakes potentially involve Sinn Fein’s continuing participation in power-sharing, “in the public interest” becomes an elastic and expansive term.

PUP Leader Billy Hutchinson: ‘[Barra] McGrory sabotages efforts to ‘deal with the past’

‘McGrory sabotages efforts to ‘deal with the past’
Statement
Billy Hutchinson
Progressive Unionist Party

PUP Leader Cllr Billy Hutchinson slams the DPP for his political witch hunt of Winston Rea.

The Progressive Unionist Party utterly condemns attempts by the DPP Barra McGrory to raid the Boston College history archive in a malicious and flagrantly political fishing expedition against Winston Churchill Rea.

Mr Rea, who as a representative of the PUP, made a very significant and widely acknowledged contribution to the peace process; from ceasefires to decommissioning and the political architecture which facilitated them in between.

Party Leader Cllr Billy Hutchinson slammed the effort, “This malicious abuse of process before the courts is just another in the long history of ‘balancing’ exercises where Loyalists have been singled out, not on merit but for the optics of appearing independent to a political audience. Internment, collective punishment, shoot to kill, historic investigations, the past is replete with instances where Loyalists have suffered punitive measures for the sake of appearance rather than requirement.

After the arrests of high profile Republicans relating to the Jean McConville investigation, Barra McGrory has abused his authority in an effort to appear, rather than to be, balanced. A previous subpoena request listed Winston Rea and a Republican in the very same circumstances. When that subpoena failed due to lack of evidence, the Republican’s name mysteriously disappeared and the token Loyalist required for public consumption remained. Unfortunately that Loyalist happened to be Winston Rea.”

He continued, “The distinct lack of evidence in this case is the starkest indication that the judicial process is being used in an exercise of political window dressing. Winston Rea’s rights under the ECHR are being subjected to the unfettered will of the DPP as he continues his overtly political agenda. We need not look to far back to be reminded of a mass supergrass show trial or the ‘On the Runs’ debacle.

Perhaps if Winston Rea had been a Republican, he would have received a letter of comfort rather than an international subpoena.

Had this material been deposited in a UK University, lack of evidence would have quashed the case long before it reached the eyes of a judge. International legal cooperation has allowed Winston Rea’s Human Rights to be subject to the whims of this DPP by virtue of legal loophole.

I would further caution that Barra McGrory’s efforts will lay waste to any hope of ‘dealing with the past.’ The Stormont House Agreement called for an oral history archive and an information recovery process. Both were to be underpinned by strict confidentiality, yet here the DPP seeks to run roughshod over a similar attempt to understand the past and the confidentiality that gave birth to it.

After this evidently politically motivated witch-hunt against Winston Rea, who is likely to engage in the structures envisaged by that Agreement? The understandable mood within Loyalism suggests no-one. But then that outcome was obvious to the DPP in his duty to consider the public interest. Thus, the deeper question arises – who does this serve?”

Cllr Hutchinson concluded, “With the DUP content to get their Stormont budget passed, is dealing with the past to be left to Sinn Fein’s revisionists and any other version of history suppressed by their stacked process? These questions are central to the success of any search for truth or recovery of information; the cabal of the First Minister, Deputy First Minister and DPP need to think long and hard about the implications of their answers.”

ENDS

Irish News Refuses To Publish Letter Exposing Another Allison Morris Blooper

Irish News Refuses To Publish Letter Exposing Another Allison Morris Blooper
Ed Moloney
The Broken Elbow
February 11, 2015

Regular readers of this blog will know that The Irish News reporter Allison Morris has figured more than once in these columns and usually not in the most flattering light. That had been because of her dishonest approach to the story of the Boston College oral history archive subpoenas, about which you can read here and here.

With the latest PSNI subpoena served on former Loyalist paramilitary Winston ‘Winky’ Rea, Allison was at it again in last Saturday’ Irish News with a story that was plucked either from the air or from a rather disagreeable part of her anatomy.

I reproduce the offending articles below but in summary Allison claimed that in his interviews with Boston College, ‘Winky’ had spilled the beans about the killing of renegade Loyalist Frankie Curry and because the murder happened after the Good Friday Agreement he would be liable for a lengthy prison term.

The timing of the article, saying that the PSNI would be pursuing this angle, was a critical part of the story. Rea’s lawyers were appearing in front of a judge the following Monday in an effort to persuade him that the PSNI was on a fishing expedition and here was a front page article linking him to a notorious murder which the judge in all likelihood would read.

Knowing that in fact Rea had not talked about this event at all I wrote a letter to the editor of The Irish News, Noel Doran correcting her account. Needless to say the letter has not been published but three paragraphs plucked from my letter, none of which address Ms Morris’ role in this affair, were added on to a news story today (Wednesday) about Winston Rea (see final Irish News piece below).

I reproduce the full letter below and serve notice on Mr Doran that this will not be the end of the matter.

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Letter to the Editor

Dear Sir,

Last Saturday, February 7th, your correspondent Allison Morris wrote, and you published, an article claiming that Winston Rea, the alleged Loyalist leader, had spoken of the murder of Frankie Curry in interviews he gave to the Boston College oral history archive.

The effect of her article, published before Monday’s court hearing, was, arguably, to substantiate the Crown’s claim that the PSNI were investigating serious matters concerning Mr Rea and that this justified their efforts to obtain his interviews from Boston.

Ms Morris wrote: “A leading loyalist who made a taped confession as part of the controversial Boston College project has recorded details about the feud-related murder of bomb-maker Frankie Curry”.

And: “The Irish News understands that Rea openly discussed the internal process and build up that took place prior to Curry’s murder in his interview recorded almost 10 years ago.”

As the former director of the Boston College oral history project I am, like the interviewers, pledged never to reveal what interviewees said or spoke about in their interviews until the terms of their embargo have been fulfilled. But there is no bar on myself telling the world what is NOT in a person’s interview.

Accordingly, I can say with the utmost confidence, that not only does Mr Rea not discuss the late Mr Curry’s death in any way but his name does not even figure in his interviews.

I think I am entitled in these circumstances to query the bona fides of Allison Morris’ source for this fictional story, given the damage it has caused to Winston Rea. Can I suggest it is very possibly the same source who told Ms Morris’ close friend Ciaran Barnes back in 2010 that Dolours Price had discussed the disappearance of Jean McConville in her interview for the college archive, when she had not.

All Ms Morris had to do was pick up the phone or email and I would have happily confirmed all this for her. But she didn’t bother. After all, why let a few facts get in the way of a good story!

The attempt to obtain Winston Rea’s interviews, as will become clear with the passage of time, is nothing less than a cynical fishing expedition by the PSNI aimed at satisfying sectarian elements in the Irish-American community that they intend to balance their raid on IRA interviews at Boston College by bagging a ‘Prod’ in their net. Winston Rea is being pursued not in the interests of justice but to satisfy narrow political goals.

That, I suggest, more than disgracefully inaccurate speculation, should be the focus of your paper’s coverage of this topic.

Yours etc

Ed Moloney
New York, February 9th, 2015

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Sunday World: Detectives think ‘Winky’ Rea paid £40,00 for head of Frankie Curry

Detectives think ‘Winky’ Rea paid £40,00 for head of Frankie Curry
Sunday World Site
February 12th, 2015

Detectives believe Winston ‘Winky’ Rea agreed a £40,000 bounty for the murder of Red Hand Commando hitman Frankie Curry.

The former head of the terror group has been locked in a courtroom battle to prevent PSNI detectives from getting their hands on transcripts of taped interviews he gave to researchers on the Boston Tapes project.

This week the High Court in Belfast heard the veteran loyalist is being investigated in connection with offences of the ‘utmost gravity’.

He has long been suspected of involvement in the 1999 slaying of shooter Curry, pictured right, a one-time close associate and cousin of his wife.

But despite being interviewed at the time he was released without charge.

But detectives believe the 64-year-old, who is said to be in poor health, has detailed his alleged involvement in the killing as well as incriminating others. It is also thought his ‘confession’ reveals details of £40,000 in cash paid out to his killers.

Curry was a notorious hitman who once boasted he had killed 20 people, but had fallen foul of the RHC parent organisation of the UVF over his stated opposition to the then fledgling peace process.

It is understood he was on a list of loyalist ‘dissidents’ who were seen as a threat to the stability of the Good Friday Agreement which had been signed only a few months before his killing.

When Curry exacted deadly revenge on prominent drug dealer William ‘Wassy’ Paul who had humiliated him in a fist fight on the Shankill Road, RHC leaders and the UVF hierarchy had an excuse to take him out.

Curry shot Paul dead outside his home in Bangor’s Kilcooley estate in the summer of 1998.

It was to be the catalyst for his own downfall. The rival UDA was furious over the Paul killing, because of their drug dealing partnership with the victim, and with the blessing of UVF boss Gusty Spence – Curry’s uncle – he was targeted as he walked along Malvern Street in the heart of the Shankill.

The Sunday World can reveal Spence cleared the way for a UDA hitman to take him out in return for a £40,000 bounty. The money, which was believed to have been handed to Shankill Road UVF commander Joe ‘No Neck’ Megaw, bought the killers immunity from reprisal.

Spence also stipulated that his nephew was not be targeted until he had visited his mother. The killing would also have been cleared by the Red Hand Commando of which Rea was leader.

Curry was shot in the back of the head as he walked past waste ground on Malvern Street in the heart of the Shankill – ironically the location of the murder of Peter

Ward by his uncle Gusty in 1969 widely accepted as the sectarian killing that sparked the Troubles.

Curry’s body was found dumped at the rear of the Pony Club.

The stakes are high for Rea and whoever else he may have incriminated in the Boston interviews.

Curry was murdered after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement which means anyone convicted of the killing will have to serve a full sentence rather than the minimal two and a half years for crimes committed before the peace deal.

For years Curry was the organisation’s top killer. He pulled the trigger on fellow RHC member Billy Elliott, one of the men involved in the sickening band hall murder of

Margaret Wright who was lured to a south Belfast drinking club where she was assaulted and battered to death.

Elliott was sentenced to death for his role in the atrocity and Curry lured him to a meeting close to his home in the Primacy area of Bangor before shooting him once in the back of the head.

Detectives believe the killing could only have been carried out with the full approval of Winky Rea.

Loyalist sources have told the Sunday World that Rea is terrified he has incriminated himself in a raft of terrorist crimes stretching from the 70s right through to the late 90s. Other members of the organisation are also believed to have been implicated in his interviews.

Last month Rea secured a temporary injunction as police were set to fly out to collect tapes from his interviews with the Boston College project.

He was among dozens of loyalists and republicans who provided testimonies to researchers compiling an oral history of the Northern Ireland conflict.

Interviews were given on the understanding that the tapes would not be made public until after their deaths.

But those assurances were dealt a blow in 2013 when detectives investigating the abduction and murder of Jean McConville back in 1972 secured the transcripts of former IRA woman Dolours Price’s account.

In court, Mr Justice Treacey will decide tomorrow whether to grant leave for Rea to apply for a Judicial Review.

richard.sullivan@nth.sundayworld.com

Loyalist’s Boston tapes handover halted

Loyalist’s Boston tapes handover halted
u.tv

A former loyalist prisoner has secured a last-minute court order to stop police collecting interviews he gave to a US university project.

PSNI detectives investigating murder and other paramilitary crimes travelled to Boston on Tuesday after a judge threw out Winston “Winkie” Rea’s bid to halt any handover.

But with their flight mid-Atlantic Rea’s lawyers went into the Court of Appeal to seek an emergency restraining order.

On Tuesday evening and following legal arguments, a panel of three judges banned police from taking possession of the recordings until at least Friday.

Rea will then attempt to renew an argument that the PSNI move breaches his right to privacy.

He was among dozens of loyalists and republicans who provided testimonies to Boston College researchers compiling an oral history of the Northern Ireland conflict.

Interviews were given on the understanding that tapes would not be made public until after their deaths.

But those assurances were dealt a blow in 2013 when detectives investigating the abduction and murder of Belfast mother-of-10 Jean McConville back in 1972 secured the transcripts of former IRA woman Dolours Price’s account.

That material was handed over following court battles on both sides of the Atlantic.

Rea, a son-in-law of the late UVF leader Gusty Spence, claimed a subpoena for his tapes is unlawful and unspecific.

But during judicial review proceedings the court was told an investigation has been launched into serious crimes stretching from the 70s to the late 90s.

The alleged offences include murder, directing terrorism, membership of a proscribed organisation and robbery.

An international request for the tapes said police have information that Rea was a member of the Red Hand Commando whose interviews would assist investigations into those crimes.

It claimed he has “a long involvement in organising and participating in terrorist offences in Northern Ireland, including murder, directing terrorism and robbery”.

He was also alleged to have acted as a personal security guard to Spence and met with former British Prime Minister John Major in 1996 – a claim disputed by Rea.

On Monday Mr Justice Treacy threw out his challenge after holding that the test for seeking the material had been met.

He said it was “manifest” from the terms of the request that a police investigation was underway.

“The request was plainly lawful,” the judge said.

“There is no credible contention that the applicant’s rights (under the European Convention on Human Rights) are infringed.”

His ruling appeared to clear the way for detectives to fly to America to take possession of recordings of the loyalist’s interviews.

But those plans have been put on temporary hold again following Tuesday night’s Court of Appeal order.

The action follows after Rea lost his legal challenge on Monday.