OMAGH BOMB SPY IN MURDER PROBE
OMAGH BOMB SPY IN MURDER PROBE
EXCLUSIVE
By ALAN MURRAY
THE Police Ombudsman is investigating whether a man who claimed he gave a warning about the Omagh bombing shot and killed the son of a leading IRA man over a decade ago.
A secret Special Branch file containing the names of those suspected of murdering Eoin David Morley in April 1990, was handed over to the Ombudsman's investigators last week.
The informer, who uses the pseudonym 'Kevin Fulton', has claimed he took part in the attack on Morley, whose father was the 'Officer Commanding' IRA prisoners in the Maze in the 1970s.
But security force sources in Northern Ireland have discounted Fulton's account of the shooting as "bragging", designed to bolster his claims that he was a top IRA man.
Now it's understood that Morley's mother has asked the Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, to investigate whether the former soldier-turned-IRA man actually killed her son, or was part of the so-called 'punishment' squad' that dragged him from his girlfriend's house in Newry and shot him twice in the back, with a rifle.
Eoin Morley, who lived on the Derrybeg estate with his partner, left the IRA to join a smaller republican grouping in 1990.
The IRA said he had been shot because he allegedly passed on "sensitive information" on members of the organisation to a rival paramilitary group.
The killing was described as a '50/50' punishment shooting, because there was a 50pc chance that the victim could be permanently paralysed.
But Morley was shot with a rifle, which greatly reduced his chances of surviving the savage attack.
Morley's mother said she believed her son was killed by the IRA because of a vendetta against her late husband, going back to his period as IRA Officer Commanding in the Maze.
In a statement later, the IRA refuted local speculation that Eoin Morley had been shot because he was an RUC informer.
"This was incorrect and totally inaccurate. The additional suffering to his family by having this stigma attached to his name is a matter of regret to us," they said.
Now it has been learned that Kevin Fulton's possible role in the murder is being probed.
A sensitive RUC Special Branch file detailing the killing and those involved has now been passed to Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan.
A spokesman for her office said: "We can confirm that an examination of the killing of Eoin David Morley has begun, as a result of a complaint to the Ombudsman's office."
Fulton - who is appealing a decision by former RUC Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan to refuse him a firearms certificate - has been the centre of media attention since last year, when he claimed he passed information to police which could have helped to prevent the Omagh explosion in 1998.
But Sir Ronnie described him as a "fantasist".
If Fulton is named in the Special Branch file as part of the IRA team that shot Morley in 1990, then it would again call into question the role of Army and police informers in terrorist activity, and what steps were taken to prosecute them if they were involved in fatal terrorist attacks.
It's believed Fulton began to provide information on IRA activities in Newry to members of a specialist Army unit, following his discharge from the Royal Irish Rangers in March 1981 after less than two years in the regiment.
He also provided information to the National Investigation Service of Customs and Excise, but it wasn't until 1989 that he was sworn into the IRA.
EXCLUSIVE
By ALAN MURRAY
THE Police Ombudsman is investigating whether a man who claimed he gave a warning about the Omagh bombing shot and killed the son of a leading IRA man over a decade ago.
A secret Special Branch file containing the names of those suspected of murdering Eoin David Morley in April 1990, was handed over to the Ombudsman's investigators last week.
The informer, who uses the pseudonym 'Kevin Fulton', has claimed he took part in the attack on Morley, whose father was the 'Officer Commanding' IRA prisoners in the Maze in the 1970s.
But security force sources in Northern Ireland have discounted Fulton's account of the shooting as "bragging", designed to bolster his claims that he was a top IRA man.
Now it's understood that Morley's mother has asked the Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, to investigate whether the former soldier-turned-IRA man actually killed her son, or was part of the so-called 'punishment' squad' that dragged him from his girlfriend's house in Newry and shot him twice in the back, with a rifle.
Eoin Morley, who lived on the Derrybeg estate with his partner, left the IRA to join a smaller republican grouping in 1990.
The IRA said he had been shot because he allegedly passed on "sensitive information" on members of the organisation to a rival paramilitary group.
The killing was described as a '50/50' punishment shooting, because there was a 50pc chance that the victim could be permanently paralysed.
But Morley was shot with a rifle, which greatly reduced his chances of surviving the savage attack.
Morley's mother said she believed her son was killed by the IRA because of a vendetta against her late husband, going back to his period as IRA Officer Commanding in the Maze.
In a statement later, the IRA refuted local speculation that Eoin Morley had been shot because he was an RUC informer.
"This was incorrect and totally inaccurate. The additional suffering to his family by having this stigma attached to his name is a matter of regret to us," they said.
Now it has been learned that Kevin Fulton's possible role in the murder is being probed.
A sensitive RUC Special Branch file detailing the killing and those involved has now been passed to Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan.
A spokesman for her office said: "We can confirm that an examination of the killing of Eoin David Morley has begun, as a result of a complaint to the Ombudsman's office."
Fulton - who is appealing a decision by former RUC Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan to refuse him a firearms certificate - has been the centre of media attention since last year, when he claimed he passed information to police which could have helped to prevent the Omagh explosion in 1998.
But Sir Ronnie described him as a "fantasist".
If Fulton is named in the Special Branch file as part of the IRA team that shot Morley in 1990, then it would again call into question the role of Army and police informers in terrorist activity, and what steps were taken to prosecute them if they were involved in fatal terrorist attacks.
It's believed Fulton began to provide information on IRA activities in Newry to members of a specialist Army unit, following his discharge from the Royal Irish Rangers in March 1981 after less than two years in the regiment.
He also provided information to the National Investigation Service of Customs and Excise, but it wasn't until 1989 that he was sworn into the IRA.
Further Information
Publisher: SUNDAY LIFE
Ref: SL/174
Published Date: 14-Jul-02
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