McGeough speaks out from jail about ‘unsafe conviction’
SPEAKING from his prison cell, convicted IRA man Gerry McGeough has launched a verbal attack on Democratic Unionist politicians who he claims have ‘demonised’ him in comments published in the Tyrone Times.
In his first interview since being jailed last month for the attempted murder of a part-time UDR soldier thirty years ago, Mr McGeough also complained that he had been jailed to ensure he did not stand in the Northern Ireland Assembly and local council elections.
Sounding upbeat on the telephone, he said that he had been overwhelmed by the supportive messages that have flooded in from all over the world.
While his imprisonment has been hard on his young family, they have been surrounded by well-wishers from both sides of the community, he added.
“In particular I would like to thank my Protestant neighbours, who in their quiet and discreet way have shown their support for my family”, he said.
“My wife and children are finding it tough at the moment. I applied for leave to attend my son’s First Communion but it was refused, which I thought was petty and vindictive.
“It broke his heart to hear that I would not be attending.
“I believe that unionist politicians are projecting all their IRA demons upon me, because they are sharing power with former members of that organisation and are unable to vent their grievances.
“In addition, I took a stand against anti-Catholic advertisements that appeared in the local press and I have been punished because of this.
“Everyone knows I was railroaded into jail to prevent me from standing in the elections. It was an unsafe conviction which relies on flimsy evidence, mainly a piece of fiction I wrote many years ago.
“If the same standards were applied to other authors then Agatha Christie would have been made to serve several life sentences.
“I am confident that in time the decision will be overturned.
“I have a huge volume of support in the local community and believe I may have taken a seat in the Blackwater Ward.”
Mr McGeough said that the same unionist politicians who have been attacking his character had been happy to sit next to him at cross-community events and had in fact praised him for his cross-community work.
“There is no consistency in their attacks and I believe they are guilty of hypocrisy.
“This is all part of a sectarian campaign against me.”
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