Abuse probe detective fought IRA

THE Ulsterman heading up the Jersey childcare probe was once involved in the fight against the IRA on the streets of Belfast.

Lenny Harper, 56, was a young detective based in the republican heartland of Andersonstown in west Belfast at the height of the violence in Northern Ireland.

Former Royal Ulster Constabulary colleague Brian McVicker said: “He was a first-class operator, a fantastic worker. He was a go-getter because he was a policeman who caught people.”