Uno dei due uomini di North Belfast accusati del brutale assassinio dello studente Thomas Devlin avrebbe detto ad un investigatore di “aver visto qualcosa” la sera del fatale accoltellamento di agosto 2005
La perquisizione avvenne a dicembre del 2005, quattro mesi dopo l’arresto di Brown, rilasciato poi senza alcuna accusa dopo essere stato interrogato.
L’investigatore John Kitchen ha detto che nell’appartamento Brown sembrava “emotivo” e l’uomo gli riferì “di star bruciando” e di non poter dormire la notte.
Kitchen disse di aver chiestoa Brown se c’era qualcosa che voleva riferire, e Brown presumibilmente gli disse: “Ho visto qualcosa e mi sta distruggendo”.
Comunque dopo Brown chiese al detective se avesse detto qualcosa che sarebbe potuto essere usato in tribunale, e lui rispose di non poter promettere nulla.
Durante una conversazione successiva Brown replicò: “Lo sa che non posso dire nulla in tribunale… guardi cosa accade in Irlanda del Nord quando qualcuno parla con la polizia, i paramilitari lo prendono”.
Secondo l’investigatore Kitchen il moderato, coerente e collaborativo Brown avrebbe voluto dire qualcosa di più, come se volesse tirare fuori qualcosa dal proprio petto.
Durante i precedenti interrogatori, letti al giudice, Brown negò di aver paura del suo coimputato Gary Taylor, 23 anni di Mountcollyer Avenue, anch’egli abitante in Ross House al tempo dell’omicidio.
Durante gli interrogatori, a Brown furono mostrate le immagini riprese dalle telecamere a circuito chiuso, dove si vedevano due uomini entrare ed uscire dagli appartamenti (di Ross House) la sera dell’omicidio, ma rifiutò di riferire se Taylor fosse uno di loro.
E’ stato anche riferito in aula che Brown disse alla polizia di aver “dato via” i vestiti che indossava quella sera. L’unica cosa che sapeva dell’assassinio dello studente “era che se ne parlava nei notiziari e sui giornali”.
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Devlin accused ‘saw something’
One of two north Belfast men accused of the brutal murder of schoolboy Thomas Devlin allegedly told a detective he had “seen something” the night of the fatal stabbing in August 2005.
The search took place in December that year, four months after Brown had been arrested, but then released without charge after being interviewed.
Detective John Kitchen said that in the flat Brown appeared “emotional”, and told him that he was “burning up” and couldn’t sleep at night.
Detective Kitchen said he asked Brown if there was something he wanted to say, and Brown allegedly told him: “I seen something and it’s cracking me up”.
However, later Brown asked the detective if what he had said would ever be used in a court, to which the detective said he could not promise it would not.
During this later conversation Brown allegedly replied: “You know I can’t say anything in court … look what happens in Northern Ireland when people talk to the police, the paramilitaries get them”.
Detective Kitchen said he got the impression that a sober, coherent and co-operative Brown wanted to say more, as if he wanted to get something off his chest.
During the earlier interviews, which were read to the court, Brown denied that he was afraid of his co-accused Gary Taylor, 23, from Mountcollyer Avenue, but who had also lived in Ross House at the time.
In the interviews Brown was shown CCTV footage of two men seen entering and leaving the flats on the night of the murder, but refused to say if Taylor was one of them.
The court also heard that Brown told police he had “gave away” the clothing he was wearing that night and that the only thing he knew about the schoolboy’s killing “was what was in the news and in the papers”.