Cameron: Suspects must appear in court

The British government must make people suspected of offences in the North appear in court before being granted an amnesty, Conservative leader David Cameron insisted today.

On his first visit to Belfast since being elected leader, Mr Cameron also called on politicians not to question the decision by prosecutors to drop the charges against an alleged republican spy ring at Stormont.

Mr Cameron called on the British government to listen to concerns about the controversial Northern Ireland (Offences) Bill, which could enable anyone suspected of a murder before the 1998 Good Friday Agreement to stay out of jail.

As he met pupils and staff at Lagan College, the North’s first integrated secondary school for Catholics and Protestants, he said: “My party in parliament has been very, very clear that people who have committed dreadful crimes in the past must appear in court and I think that this has been a real block.

“I gather the government is making some moves on that and we will respond constructively to them.”