Murdered taxi-man's family appeal for support

Allegations that a loyalist killing spree was covered up to protect a top police informer intensified tonight as relatives of a murdered taxi-driver broke their silence.

Six years after John Harbinson, 39, was battered to death in north Belfast, his family urged the outspoken father of another victim to back their fight for justice.

They demanded that Raymond McCord help the campaign because his son was allegedly present when an Ulster Volunteer Force gang mercilessly bludgeoned Mr Harbinson.

A statement issued by Mr Harbinson’s four children said: “Can you imagine the hurt we endure every time a newspaper or watch the TV where Mr McCord pleads for justice. Where is our justice?

“We think the time is right to ask Mr McCord if he will call also for a public inquiry into the death of our loved one.”

Both the Harbinson and McCord killings are among a dozen murders where Special Branch officers, it is claimed, blocked police inquiries to protect a senior loyalist agent.

He is suspected of helping detectives uncover a loyalist arms dump and giving evidence on paramilitary colleagues later convicted of terrorist crimes.

Nuala O’Loan, Northern Ireland’s Police Ombudsman, has launched a major probe into the allegations which is expected to take another year to complete.

It is understood her investigators, who uncovered evidence that police received warnings ahead of the Omagh bombing which killed 29 people, have made the case their number one priority.

If proved, sources said the claims could potentially be as devastating as Metropolitan Police Commissioner John Steven’s dossier of collusion between the security forces and loyalist killers in Northern Ireland.

A spokesman for the Ombudsman said tonight: “The investigation is active and ongoing.”

Mr McCord, who first made the allegations, said he was ready to meet the Harbinsons.

But he urged them to focus on the UVF man he says has escaped punishment for a decade-long campaign of terror rather than his son, also Raymond.

He said: “My son was not part of the murder gang. Two people murdered him and others at the scene did not know a murder was going to happen.

“The police know who did it because I made a full statement after this police informer told me about the Harbinson murder.”

His son, a 22-year-old former RAF operator, was beaten to death in November 1997.

Security sources confirmed Raymond McCord junior was questioned about Mr Harbinson’s murder in May that year.

The cab driver was abducted, handcuffed and beaten with iron bars before being left to die in an alley at Mount Vernon, a UVF stronghold in the city.

No one has been convicted, but several of those questioned are suspected of being involved in the the McCord killing.

He was battered before his lifeless body was dumped in a quarry on the outskirts of the city.

Mr McCord claimed his son was targeted because the UVF commander and alleged top-level informer did not want him to be questioned by the terror organisation’s leadership about a drugs shipment he brought in from the UK.

He added: “Raymond went into the police station voluntarily when he heard they were searching his house.

“I have brought the Harbinson case up many times but they have failed to support me when they must know there is one man linked to all of these deaths.

“My door is open to them any time. I will tell the Harbinsons the truth of the murder where the police will not.”

Though the family accepted Mr McCord’s own fight for justice, they claimed their pain has been forgotten.

Information passed on by investigating detectives led them to believe Mr McCord’s son was present, they said.

“We have had this information for quite some time now and have wanted to move on and grieve by ourselves.

“However, each and every time we see Mr McCord’s stories it opens up the wound again and we cannot keep our grieving to ourselves.”