North’s violent past ‘not laid to rest’

THE British Government has not grasped the thorny issue of the North’s violent past, one of the main drivers behind the peace process has said.

Denis Bradley, former vice-chairman of the PSNI policing board, also warned of the burden facing policing if the service has to launch another major investigation into the 1972 Bloody Sunday killings.

Mr Bradley’s comments came as Protestant church leaders, including the Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry and Raphoe Ken Good, met with the Bloody Sunday families.

Moderator of the Presbyterian Church Rev Norman Hamilton and Methodist Church president Rev Paul Kingston were also at the meeting.

A joint statement from the church leaders said they hoped “a cloud that has been hanging over this city for almost four decades has begun to lift.

“As Christian leaders, we believe that reconciliation is at the very heart of the Christian message.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron apologised on Tuesday after Mark Saville’s mammoth report exonerated the dead and injured.

Mr Bradley has suggested, however, that further questions remained after he and former Church of Ireland primate Archbishop Robin Eames drew up a report on dealing with victims of the Troubles.

“There are not going to be a thousand Savilles and I suppose my disappointment around our report is that our local politicians have not debated it, engaged with it, or seen it and the two governments (Belfast and London) have been reluctant to grasp it,” Mr Bradley said.

Among the Eames/ Bradley report recommendations are a legacy commission to deal with more than 3,000 unresolved murders.

The previous government ruled out a £12,000 (€14,500) payment to all victims and the new administration has said the near-£200 million cost of Saville was far too much. There are predictions the Tories will not proceed with Eames/Bradley.

Mr Bradley added one of the reasons they called for a legacy commission was because Saville was always going to find that Bloody Sunday was unjustified.

“What I am unclear about is that it may now go to the police, which burdens policing again with what could be another major demand from the past,” he added.

Meanwhile, prosecutors were being urged to consider bringing charges against soldiers accused of lying to the Saville inquiry.