Real IRA issue death threat to police board chief

The Real IRA tonight issued a death threat against Denis Bradley, the vice-chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

The dissident group threatened to kill him hours after he urged Catholics to face down terrorists attempting to “bully” them out of the new policing arrangements.

A growing number of Catholics who took seats on local policing bodies earlier this year have been targeted recently.

Mr Bradley urged them to stand up to the intimidation.

The Real IRA’s response was to issue what it called an “exclusive death threat” against Mr Bradley.

But at the same time it said it considered all members of the district policing partnerships legitimate targets.

Last month Mr Bradley received bullets and a Mass card through the post.

He claims Real IRA threats against Catholics on Northern Ireland’s 26 DPPs could wreck the whole Patten blueprint for reforming policing in the province.

In the latest stage of intimidation against Catholic DPP members, the car of a woman in Derry was set on fire last night.

Urging members to hold their nerve Mr Bradley commented: “The only way of you ever beat bullies is to stand up to them.

“People who know who might be in the Real IRA, and who is supporting this campaign, need to take a stance.

“If policing is driven back into a situation of security being the number one agenda, then you cannot implement Patten.”

The Roman Catholic primate Dr Sean Brady added his voice to the condemnation.

He called recent attacks and intimidation “a sinister attempt to rid these boards of Catholic representation”.

Dr Brady said violence and intimidation had no place in a community which believed in freedom and the exercise of human rights.

“I would say the people who have taken the courageous decision to join these boards deserve respect and support,” he said.

Marian Quinn, who has been threatened before over her role on the local DPP, said she was considering quitting the body following the torching of her car.

“I am frightened for myself and I am frightened for my family. What mother wouldn’t be?

“But a stand has to be taken and these men have to be told no, enough is enough.

“I would really like someone to come to me and tell me what I am doing that is so wrong.”

So far two people have stood down – in Cookstown, Co Tyrone, and in Co Fermanagh – amid the intimidation campaign.

Another car belonging to a DPP member in Strabane, Co Tyrone, was torched outside the school where he teaches while a hoax bomb was planted at the home of another DPP chairman nearby.