GARDAI will seek to question a senior Sinn Fein official in the - TopicsExpress



          

GARDAI will seek to question a senior Sinn Fein official in the North who allegedly claimed that he knew for a "fact" who killed Garda Adrian Donohoe earlier this year. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has also been asked to interview Belfast-based Sinn Fein press officer Mark McLernon, who allegedly named a prominent dissident republican family as the killers of the Co Louth-based detective in an interview with a newspaper. Mr McLernon also allegedly named the same family as the killers of two men beaten to death in south Armagh in separate incidents in 2002 and 2007. Senior garda sources confirmed they will seek to interview Mr McLernon. Meanwhile, Ulster Unionist Party MLA Tom Elliott has contacted the PSNI demanding that they also speak to the Sinn Fein press officer following claims made by journalist Donal MacIntyre in the Sunday World last week. The Sunday Independent has learned that senior garda and PSNI officers will meet this week to discuss the claims. Mr MacIntyre said he had attempted to contact Sinn Fein in south Armagh about the murder of Paul Quinn, who was lured to a shed in north Louth and beaten with steel bars by a gang of up to 12 IRA men in October 2007. After he began making inquiries, Mr MacIntyre was directed to a press officer in Belfast, Mark McLernon. Mr MacIntyre said he taped the phone conversation and at no stage was told the conversation was off the record. The journalist reported the Sinn Fein man as saying: "Nobody has ever put any evidence forward to back up the theory that the IRA were involved in the murder of Paul Quinn. In fact, if you looked at the evidence, many people argue that it points in a completely different direction." It was reported that he then identified the family name of the brothers involved in the 2003 incident in which IRA man Rogers was killed. He allegedly added: "Look, the (family name) killed Keith Rogers, fact, right. The (family name) killed Donohoe, fact, right." Mr McLernon, a senior Sinn Fein press officer, declined to comment last week and said he had placed the matter with a solicitor. A senior Sinn Fein source said the Sinn Fein officer was only repeating "hearsay" about the three murders and the alleged involvement of one family in all the killings.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 17:53:37 +0000

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