‘My husband was framed’ claims ex-RIRA chief’s wife
Suzanne Breen
The wife of jailed ex-Real IRA leader, Mickey McKevitt, has told a meeting at Queen’s University Belfast that her husband is the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
Bernadette Sands McKevitt, whose brother Bobby Sands died on hunger-strike, alleged her husband had been framed by MI5 and the FBI with the help of gardaí.
McKevitt, convicted of directing terrorism, is serving a 20-year sentence in Portlaoise prison. He was jailed on the evidence of informer Dave Rupert, a 6’7″ American trucker.
The Queen’s event was hosted by “law students and graduates” concerned about “human rights abuses”. Speakers included law lecturer Dr Vicky Conway.
McKevitt’s solicitor Peter Corrigan said he was “confident” his client’s conviction would be reversed by the European Court but McKevitt, who is due out in 2016, would likely be freed before this happened.
Victor Barker, whose 12-year-old son James was killed in the bomb, said: “It’s very convenient for people who have gone through the justice system to then claim, ‘I’ve been framed’.
“Yet Mr McKevitt has rights. If he’s successful in the European Court, he is entitled to justice like everyone else. But it must be remembered that the 29 people killed in Omagh will never get justice.”
Sands McKevitt said immediately after Omagh, she and her husband were wrongly publicly blamed for the atrocity in which 29 people were slaughtered.
“The police interviewed 6,500 people and took 2,700 statements on the bombing but neither of us were even questioned which is very strange if we were allegedly leading suspects,” she said.
McKevitt was convicted of directing terrorism on dates after the bomb. His wife claimed Rupert’s evidence was often contradictory: “My husband was alleged to be at an Army Council meeting with Rupert north of Dundalk when undercover gardaí had actually logged him sitting at home.”
Solicitor Peter Corrigan claimed Rupert, who was paid $5m for his evidence, hadn’t been a “credible witness”. Twice declared bankrupt, he’d admitted owing the US government $750,000 in unpaid taxes and had been under FBI investigation for $650,000 wire fraud.
“A proper legal system where verdicts are reached by evidence is needed – not a witch-hunt,” Corrigan said.
Human rights’ group British Irish Rights’ Watchsaid it didn’t condone violence and had deep sympathy for the Omagh victims but McKevitt “hadn’t received a fair trial”.
