Ireland: loyalist violence continues
By Stuart Ross
On April 21, Adrian Lamph, a 29-year old father of one, was shot twice at close range at his place of work in Portadown, Northern Ireland. The lone gunman, wearing a red, white and blue scarf, made an easy escape into a nearby loyalist housing estate.
"It is obvious that this murder, carried out in close proximity to the town centre, was the work of the Loyalist Volunteer Force", said Portadown councillor Breandan MacCionnaith. "Their victim was chosen for no reason other than being a Catholic."
Lamph was the 11th victim of loyalist death squads since last Christmas, and the first since the drafting of the Good Friday agreement.
Portadown is one of the staunchest loyalist towns in the North, and sectarian killings are not rare. Just hours before Lamph was gunned down, a Portadown loyalist had been remanded for trial in a Craigavon court on charges related to the town's last sectarian killing — of 25-year-old Robert Hamill.
Portadown's local MP (and Orangeman), David Trimble, blamed the murder of Lamph on "a handful of corrupt and degenerate people". But one need only look at the brutal murder of Robert Hamill last spring, and the controversy that continues to surround it, to see that sectarian hatred is not simply the province of "a handful of corrupt and degenerate people" in this part of Armagh.
On the night of April 27, 1997, in full view of heavily armed officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), Hamill was set upon by a mob of up to 30 loyalists and beaten unconscious. He died 11 days later.
Hamill and three relatives (one man and two women) were making their way home from St Patrick's Hall when Hamill and Gregory Girvan were set upon by the mob while their female companions tried in vain to protect them. Despite their screams for help, the RUC refused to intervene, not even leaving their Landrover parked nearby until an ambulance arrived.
Immediately after the attack, the RUC issued six contradictory press releases. Some referred to "rival factions" clashing in the town centre, a few suggested that the RUC had intervened but were unable to save Hamill, and others didn't mention an intervention at all.
No disciplinary action has been taken against the RUC witnesses. Last November, Hamill's family met with northern secretary of state Mo Mowlam and presented a petition with 20,000 signatures calling for the suspension of the officers. The officers have not been suspended, and neither the RUC nor the Northern Ireland Office have offered an adequate explanation for this.
Serious questions have also been raised regarding the RUC's investigations. "Not only did [the RUC] fail to intervene ... they are incapable of providing any identification evidence", said the Hamill family's solicitor. Of the six loyalists originally charged with the murder, only one remains in custody. Three were released last October and two more in November. They were released due to "lack of evidence".
Hamill's family is now pursuing a private prosecution against both the RUC and those believed responsible for the murder. Birmingham Six barrister, Michael Mansfield QC, is leading the prosecution.
The family is also demanding a full independent public inquiry into the incident. They have little faith in an inquiry conducted by the Independent Commission on Police Complaints — a government body which has failed to uphold a single complaint arising out of the use of emergency legislation in seven years.