Northern Ireland

TUV: Shankill investigation 'of national importance'

TUV leader Jim Allister. Picture by Arthur Allison
TUV leader Jim Allister. Picture by Arthur Allison TUV leader Jim Allister. Picture by Arthur Allison

SECRETARY of State Theresa Villiers must disclose what documents were taken during the 2002 Castlereagh break-in following revelations about the Shankill bombing, TUV leader Jim Allister has said.

Mr Allister said claims that the IRA commander who planned the 1993 attack was a police informant need to be investigated.

"The suggestion that the security services knew about the Shankill bomb and did nothing to stop it is a matter of national importance and demands thorough investigation and explanation," he said.

Nine Protestant civilians and one of the IRA bombers were killed in the attack on Frizzell's fish shop in October 1993.

The Irish News revealed this week that the IRA commander in Ardoyne who planned the attack was a Special Branch agent known as 'AA'.

He was stood down when his role as an informer was uncovered after the IRA stole documents from Castlereagh police station on St Patrick's Day 2002.

Mr Allister called on Mrs Villiers "to immediately explain what was taken during the Castlereagh break-in and if some of the information stolen related to the Shankill bombing".

"Nine innocent people were killed that day and over 50 were injured. If there was a suggestion that the security services had known about an attack which resulted in the deaths of people in another part of the UK and did nothing to stop it the demands for a public inquiry would be deafening.

"The government has a duty to come clean and the families of those who died and those who were injured deserve to know the truth.

"If there was a failure on the part of the security services, or even worse a deliberate ignoring of information which led to an attack, those responsible need to be held to account."

The Police Ombudsman has been asked to investigate claims that police were in possession of information that could have prevented the bombing.

Chief Constable George Hamilton said at an event on Tuesday that he was "100 per cent convinced that the police service at the time had no knowledge of the Shankill bombing that could have prevented it from happening. That statement will be tested, investigated and found to be right or otherwise by the Police Ombudsman."