Distretto Nord

Il capo della banda sospettata della morte di Kerr è un agente britannico

Leader of gang suspected of Geoff Kerr murder is a British agent

Collusion is not an illusionSir Hugh Orde, the Northern Ireland chief constable, has been challenged to investigate the role of a state agent in a gang suspected of killing financial adviser Geoff Kerr.

A gang run by a loyalist crime family are the chief suspects in the murder of Kerr, a member of the Ulster Unionist Party, who was buried yesterday.

The Observer has learned that the leader of the gang is a highly-paid British agent who joined the Loyalist Volunteer Force to foment sectarian strife in his native north Belfast during the 1990s.

The Kerr murder has again raised the spectre of collusion between the security forces and agents belonging to paramilitary organisations who commit crimes while on the state’s payroll. Suspicion that at least one of the gangsters behind the murder last Monday could be working for the security services last night prompted the SDLP to demand a meeting with the chief constable.

Dolores Kelly, the SDLP’s justice spokeswoman and a member of Northern Ireland Policing Board, said: “This was the week when the former head of the Stevens inquiry team investigating collusion revealed at the Billy Wright inquiry that RUC Special Branch failed to let people know they were being targeted by loyalists, some of whom were subsequently shot dead.

“The murder of Mr Kerr raises very disturbing questions which I will put to the chief constable on Thursday at the Policing Board. State agents should not be given a free pass to commit crimes up to and including murder. If one of these gangsters is working for the state, then that is chilling. There has to be some independent investigation into the use of this particular agent in this gang.”

The 60-year-old financier, who was killed at his house in Templepatrick, Co Antrim, was a member of a gun club and sources said he may have been killed in an attempt to steal his weapons. “Only those involved in gun clubs would really know who are members and who have guns,” said one source.

The Observer has also learned that Kerr tried to buy a gun on the internet two months ago. He advertised for a US-made Marlin rifle on the ukgunroom.com website on 25 February, giving his office and mobile telephone numbers.

The advert will form one part of the probe as detectives sift through intelligence reports and information gleaned from the public and informants since the murder. Detectives are working on the theory that Kerr was shot as a result of a botched robbery attempt and that the gang had not intended to murder him.

The two armed robbers turned up at Kerr’s home on Monday night posing as takeaway delivery workers. The front door was opened by his wife, Sally, and the robbers forced their way into the house, where Kerr struggled with one man before being shot at close range in the chest. He died at the scene.

The gang suspected of being behind the murder is comprised of former LVF members and drug dealers. They have been trying to buy arms for their own protection and to sell to Dublin criminals.

Detectives have sent a burnt-out car that was left a few miles from the victim’s home for forensic examination. The 1995 silver BMW 318, registration number WIB 6610, was found on the Ballyminymore Road area of Glenavy. The source said: “It looks like those responsible have dumped the car there in a bid to make it look like those involved were republicans.”

Eighteen months ago, the gang killed another man in Co Antrim in a row over drugs and guns. Martin Morgan, 41, was shot dead in his Firmount Street home on Antrim’s Greystone estate in July 2007.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland were last night questioning three men and a woman about the Kerr murder.

Pagina precedente 1 2
Tags

René Querin

Di professione grafico e web designer, sono appassionato di trekking e innamorato dell'Irlanda e della sua storia. Insieme ad Andrea Varacalli ho creato e gestisco Les Enfants Terribles.

Related Articles

Close