THE NORTH’S Police Ombudsman has found that the RUC in 1972 engaged in a “collusive act” in how it dealt with high-level intelligence that Fr James Chesney was one of the prime suspects for the IRA Claudy bombing which killed nine people and injured more than 30.
The damning collusion verdict was directed at the police over how senior RUC officers sought the assistance of the Northern Ireland Office and northern secretary William Whitelaw who in turn spoke to the Catholic primate Cardinal Conway about the then firm belief that Fr Chesney was one of the Claudy bombers.
Ombudsman Al Hutchinson found that an “RUC decision to seek the (British) government’s assistance through an engagement with senior figures in the Catholic Church, and then to accept an understanding that was reported back to them, compromised the investigation of the Claudy bombing; failed those who were murdered and injured; and undermined the police officers who were investigating the atrocity” .
“In the absence of explanation the actions of the senior RUC officers, in seeking and accepting the government’s assistance in dealing with the problem of Fr Chesney’s alleged wrongdoing, was by definition a collusive act,” he said in Claudy yesterday.
Mr Hutchinson briefed the bereaved and the surviving injured in Claudy yesterday morning on his findings about the three no-warning car bomb explosions that wreaked devastation in the Derry village on July 31st, 1972.
The ombudsman made clear that at very senior levels the RUC, the British government and the Catholic Church were aware of Fr Chesney’s alleged involvement, yet he was never arrested or questioned. Instead, at the apparent behest of Cardinal Conway the priest was transferred to a parish in Co Donegal.
Mr Hutchinson also said that even after the Claudy bombing and his transfer to Donegal that there was intelligence that Fr Chesney continued IRA activities.
Mr Hutchinson also reported how Fr Chesney provided an alibi for a prime suspect known as Man A who was arrested a week after the bombing.
Mr Hutchinson detailed how Fr Chesney, who died aged 46 in 1980, was the “quartermaster and director of operations of the South Derry Provisional IRA” around the time of the Claudy bombings and that he had been involved in other IRA attacks.
His team of investigators found “that following the bombing police held extensive intelligence and other material, which they received from a variety of sources, from which they concluded that the priest was the IRA’s director of operations in South Derry and was alleged to have been directly involved in the bombings and other terrorist incidents”.
Investigators also spoke to a “former special branch detective, who said that he had wanted to arrest Fr Chesney in the months after the bombing but that this had been refused by the assistant chief constable special branch, who had advised that ‘matters are in hand’.”
Mr Hutchinson’s team also examined correspondence, in which the unnamed assistant chief constable wrote to the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) on November 30th, 1972, saying that he had been considering “what action, if any, could be taken to render harmless a dangerous priest, Fr Chesney . . .”, and suggesting that “our masters may find it possible to bring the subject into any conversations they may be having with the Cardinal or Bishops at some future date . . .”
The following month an NIO official responded that Mr Whitelaw met Cardinal Conway on December 5th “and gave him a full account of his disgust at Chesney’s behaviour. The Cardinal said that he knew that the priest was a very bad man and would see what could be done”.
The official also reported that “the Cardinal mentioned the possibility of transferring him to Donegal . . .” This correspondence was also circulated to a number of senior police officers, including the then chief constable, Sir Graham Shillington, who noted: “Seen. I would prefer a transfer to Tipperary.”
Catholic Church records indicated that when questioned by his superiors Fr Chesney denied involvement in terrorist activity. But his denials were never tested by the police.
Mr Hutchinson said that his investigation found no evidence of criminal intent on the part of any Government minister or official or on the part of any official of the Catholic Church. He said the “collusive act” was initiated by the RUC.
