Priests role covered up in Claudy bombing

The British Government and the Catholic Church were involved in an astonishing cover-up to shield a priest suspected of heading-up the IRA team responsible for one of Northern Ireland’s worst ever bomb atrocities, police claimed today.

Just months after the July 1972 attack on the village of Claudy, Co Derry, which left nine people dead, including three children, it has been alleged that the then Northern Ireland Secretary William Whitelaw and Cardinal William Conway, the Catholic Primate of all-Ireland, discussed the outrage and the activities of the priest.

The priest, who was never questioned about the murders, was later transferred across the Irish border to Co Donegal before dying of cancer in 1980.

Papers obtained by detectives who reviewed the original police investigation have revealed that a unnamed senior officers and the Northern Ireland Office were also aware of the priest’s identity, according to Assistant Chief Contable Sam Kinkaid, who ordered the re-examination earlier this year.

As he made today’s dramatic new disclosures, he refused to name the priest.

But the identity of the cleric has already been revealed as Father Jim Chesney, who at the time was based in south Derry, not far from Claudy, where three car bombs exploded without warning.

The Provisionals consistently denied any part in the attack, but the emergence of papers and letters exchanged between the Government and Church have left security chiefs and victims’ relatives in no doubt that Chesney and the IRA were definitely involved, and that he was allowed to go free even though he was clearly a prime suspect.

It is also bound to heighten demands on Downing Street to call for a full public inquiry into the scandal, which will shock London and Dublin.

Questions will also be asked about the role of the Royal Ulster Constabulary in the affair, why officers failed to question the priest and whether they had been under any political or Church pressure not to do so.

According to Mr Kinkaid, inquiries revealed that a member of the public, whom he did not name, briefed Cardinal Conway and a senior police officer on the priest’s role soon after the bombing.

Mr Kinkaid’s review team also discovered papers indicating that in late November 1972, the police briefed Northern Ireland Office officials on some of the priest’s alleged activities.

Mr Kinkaid, who met relatives of the dead today, said Mr Whitelaw and Cardinal Conway held a private meeting on December 5, 1972, to discuss issues relating to the troubles.

The following day, a briefing letter was sent from a senior Northern Ireland Office official to police headquarters indicating the private matter related to the activities of the priest.

Mr Kinkaid said today: “The letter of 6 December indicates that the then Secretary of State gave the Cardinal a full account of his disgust at the priest’s behaviour, and also indicates that the Cardinal knew that the priest was behaving improperly.

“The letter then states that the Cardinal mentioned the possibility of transferring the priest to Donegal. By January 1973 police reports show that the priest was not being seen in the south Derry area. Intelligence suggested he was working in Donegal.

“Police cannot find any record that the priest was ever arrested or interviewed about his alleged involvement in the Claudy bombing, or any other terrorist offence.”

Cardinal Conway, Mr Whitelaw, who was Northern Ireland’s first Secretary of State after direct rule was introduced, and the RUC Chief Constable at the time, Sir Graham Shillington, are all dead.

A fortnight before the Claudy bombing, Mr Whitelaw held secret talks in London with republican leaders, including Gerry Adams, now the Sinn Fein president and Martin McGuinness, who has admitted being the IRA’s second in command in Derry at the time of Bloody Sunday.

Mr Kinkaid said a search of 1972 intelligence papers clearly indicated that a parish priest in the south Derry area was a member of the Provisionals and actively involved in terrorism as well as the Claudy bomb.

Records showed he provided an alibi for a person suspected of playing a prominent role in the atrocity.

As part of the police review, Mr Kinkaid, who is in the running for the post of Northern Ireland Deputy Chief Constable to Hugh Orde, said police had asked to see documents belonging to the Church and the Government.

They were now seeking to examine further documents in the possession of the Army, as well as the Northern Ireland Office and Catholic Church in relation to the bombing, the role of the priest and subsequent events.

Mr Kinkaid insisted police had not discovered any evidence of the then Bishop of Derry Neil Farren in matters relating to the priest in 1972.

The Assistant Chief Constable added: “It is clear that the relatives of those who died in the bomb attack on Claudy village and those who were injured have not obtained justice.

“I regret this very much, and in particular that opportunities to arrest and interview all of the suspects were not taken in 1972. I have told the families that my officers are fully committed to doing everything possible to bring those responsible before the courts.”

Fr Chesney served as a priest in the south Derry village of Bellaghy at the time of the bombing. It has been claimed the terrorists attempted to telephone a warning from Dungiven, but were unable to do so because the public call box was out of order.

In 1973 the priest was transferred to Raphoe, Co Donegal, and the following year to Malin Head, one of the most northerly parts of Ireland where he served for three years before falling ill.