Trial and Terror in the UK

A great deal of media attention has been given recently to the cases of ”injustice” meted out by the police forces in the U.K. and by the Courts. This is obviously more welcome than the silence which normally shrouds the fate of so many who go through the legal system. The scenes of joy at the freeing of the Guildford Four last year underlined once again the heavy price paid by those who have been on the receiving end of British justice. Even when the Courts of Appeal reverse sentences and decree that a ”conviction is unsound”, and by implication that the defendants were on the balance of probability innocent, who is going to compensate them for the years of terror and incarceration at the hands of the Law and Order machinery? The concept of ”innocence” is supposed to be paramount in the British legal system, so how were the Guildford Four treated when cleared of planting the bombs in Guildford in 1974? They were bundled out in the shabby clothing they were wearing. It was consistent with their treatment. The British legal system wouldn’t even provide them with decent clothing at its own expense, in recognition of their restored innocence. A few days later some of them were photographed with Haughey, the Prime Minister of Eire, who announced that he had paid for their new suits out of his own pocket. No private charity here, but done before the blaze of publicity. So after being misused by British politicians, they are now being used by the disgusting bunch in Dublin.

Others are still going through the process of ”justice”, which the Courts are very reluctant to admit has been based upon the flimsiest of fabricated evidence, as in the case of the Birmingham Six, who are still languishing in gaol. Castigated in the press as dangerous terrorists, supposedly responsible for the IRA bombs in Birmingham in 1975, they have been beaten up in prison, terrorised and confined to the most maximum security possible – now that security status has been reduced and they are placed almost in open prisons. A ”damage limitation” exercise is underway until in due course they will be bundled out of prison with a quick apology for their life sentences. Some justice, some respect for the principle of innocence until a person is proved guilty! The evidence against them was mainly forensic evidence and confessions. The forensic evidence has long been discredited and the scientist responsible for the “tests” has been retired early. The only substantial evidence left was their alleged ”confessions” which was not corroborated by anything else. Even former police officers who have testified at an earlier Court of Appeal session that the Six were beaten up and threatened with guns and dogs were dismissed as unreliable witnesses. However, if they were appearing for the prosecution then anything they would say as ”serving officers” would be taken at far greater weight than that of anybody else. The Courts find it very difficult not merely saying a mistake has been made, but admitting that a full scale conspiracy has been responsible for their conviction is even harder for them. Not only the testimonies of a few policemen are at stake but the very reputation of the Courts and the legal system. ”Let Justice Be Done Though The Heaven’s Themselves May Fall”? – It is better that ten guilty people go free than one innocent person goes to gaol? – All the well-worn legal maxims get thrown out when the Legal system is itself under threat!

These two cases have special importance because of the media hysteria at the time – the people picked up for allegedly planting bombs were tried and convicted in the most extreme haste and savage sentences were handed out. It later became increasingly obvious that they were not the people actually responsible for the bombs. The IRA team largely responsible were caught in London a short time later in the Balcombe Street siege and actually admitted to some of the bombs for which others were found guilty. All this, and other evidence long known to the police, was buried rather than having to admit that the confessions were extracted by the refined terror methods of the police. Others who were implicated in the confessions were arrested and gaoled for other offences. Once these cases are found to be ”stitched up’ how many others are found to be ”unsound” as well. The immediate common denominator of these cases is that they are ”Irish” cases relating to IRA activities, but is it a case of leading sympathisers and supporters being stitched up for these offences? Not at all, it is usually those who have little knowledge of how things are done, of how the legal system operates. They are often the less articulate types of people who are easier bullied and terrorised, who are more easily prey to the belief that if they just give any old confession the terror will stop. It is only afterwards that it becomes clear that it is just the beginning of their treatment by the Courts and prisons. The object of the exercise is not only to obtain victims and convictions, but to make it clear to other people of Irish background that the same reign of terror can descend on them as well. But is this reign of terror to fall on the heads of all Irish people. Not at all – mainly those who come from the working and lower middle classes. Those who belong to the ruling class in Eire would have the benefit of Justice which is bestowed on all members of the ruling classes of various countries. Money recognises its international equivalents. These wealthy people and politicians don’t get arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, they don’t get false confessions beaten out of them, nor dragged before Courts. But those Irish people of the lower classes are fair game, just like anybody else.

There is perhaps another factor behind the delay in releasing the Birmingham Six. They are probably pawns in the discussions and manoeuvres in the Anglo-Irish Agreement, the security deal between London and Dublin in 1985. It is true that the Dublin Government has expressed disquiet about the way British Justice has been bestowed. They have criticised also how the Ulster Defence Regiment goes about its ”peace-keeping” role (the UDR is the reconstituted remnant of the disbanded notorious B-specials of the Ulster Police). To make sure they don’t act in a sectarian fashion, that is attacking or harassing Catholics, Dublin would like the UDR patrols to be led by officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. We don’t think that people in Catholic areas in Ulster would sleep safer in their beds at the thought that UDR would be led more fully by the RUC!

The legal system, in the form of the police and Courts, are not there mainly or purely to oppress minorities of a national or religious nature. It is there to maintain class oppression, that is to keep the lover classes in line. The ”modern” police force was introduced in London in the late 1820s by Robert Peel, then spread to the rest of Britain, primarily to combat and keep the working class in order. The old Chartists used to say ”Why build statues of Peel when there is a monument to him on every street corner”, in the form of a policeman. Anybody who doubts this should take a trip down to any Magistrates Court on any working day and see how the legal system deals with the working class.

And the class nature of law and the Courts? The law is there to defend the status quo, and these are property relations and the maintenance of wealth. If a landlord should let a property fall into disrepair and damage the health of his tenants, this is a mere inconvenience. But let a tenant damage his Property, then this is a CRIME! Employers can imperil the health and safety not only his employees but also their dependants (in the case of asbestosis and other diseases, and of the future generation in the case of nuclear installations) with virtual impunity. But just let the workers take any action against the assets of their employers, whether against property or finances, then this would be a CRIME! Pickets can be assaulted and virtually killed with impunity, but should strikers hit back against scabs, then this is a CRIME! It is these types of CRIMES which result in the most extreme sentences the law will allow.

The usually thick veil which covers the legal apparatus has been torn apart in various parts showing what really happens behind the scenes. Police enquiries are currently going on over the Guildford Four case and how they came to be charged in the first place, not withstanding certain files going missing. More cases are coming to light of people gaoled through false ”confessions” – at times it almost appears like a weekly occurrence. Even more significantly the West Midlands Serious Crimes Squad has been disbanded and cases they have handled over many years are under investigation. This was the same Squad which dealt with the Birmingham Six case, but the authorities are determined not to go back that far… not for now. The original remit of the investigation was to go back to 1985 (leaving a nice safe ten year gap from the Birmingham Six) but already they have been forced to examine cases as far back as 1982. In any case the image of the police forces took further hammerings a few years ago over the allegations of an Ulster ”shoot to kill policy” in which the RUC was accused of deliberately killing suspects (the same RUC Dublin wants to lead UDR patrols!). An enquiry was announced, to be led by the Deputy Chief Constable of Manchester, John Stalker. Within a short while of the start of Stalker’s enquiry he was taken off it and suspended from his job because of accusations that people he knows are charged with criminal activities, although in the end he was cleared and reinstated. The whole episode is linked with Ulster police reactions to the ”Shoot to kill policy” and a ”get Stalker” element amongst Manchester police. After all if a Deputy Chief Constable of a major British City can be set up, who then is safe from false charges?

But that is not all by any means. The Colin Wallace affair may throw further light on intelligence service machinations, if the Parliamentary Enquiry ever successfully gets off the ground. Wallace was employed by Army Intelligence in the Information Department and was involved in distributing intelligence disinformation around 1974 designed to confuse and mislead the enemy, which would be terrorist groups, mainly the IRA and possibly sons protestants groups. The operation was under the name of Clockwork Orange. Wallace was a willing and enthusiastic participant in this until (according to Wallace and some other sources) the operation spread to the British mainland and involved leading Parliamentary politicians, including actual and former Prime Ministers, Cabinets Ministers and opposition leaders. Wallace then withdrew and became the object of mistreatment from some sectors of the state.

Disinformation techniques have long been used by the British Intelligence organisations in war and peace-time to further its own ends. It is the measure of its intentions that it should be applied to Ulster as if it were just another possession (like Cyprus or Malaya, scenes of previous anti-insurgency operations) in which it fights the equivalent of a colonial war. To succeed, disinformation campaigns have to be conducted with great secrecy and its objectives have to be guarded, otherwise the whole thing is ”blown” and the object of the exercise can reveal sensitive operations or weaknesses. Disinformation exercises can not only confuse the ”enemy” but ”friends” as well, because of the security over the objects of the exercise. If it is true that a dozen or so leading British politicians were implicated in this disinformation exercise then it would do much to explain the rash of events of that period, which led to the Peter Wright / SpyCatcher allegations of the Wilson Government and others being burgled and bugged, the rumours of Coups being prepared, and some other politicians being involved in damaging cases. If a section of the British state felt it could not rely on those occupying No. 10 Downing Street (in this case the Government of Harold Wilson), and other politicians, including Tory ones, then all these events have some consistency. The paranoia of this element of the state could very well have unhinged one of the most successful anti-working class governments (the Wilson Government of the mid-seventies), precipitating a political and economic crisis – the change over to the Callaghan leadership, the ”winter of discontent” strikes, the adoption of monetarism by the Labour Government (Peter Jay is the originator of this ruling class strategy not Margaret Thatcher!) – leading to the intervention of the I.M.F. to rescue the British economy. If this is correct then it emphasises once again that democracy is purely for the consumption and disorientation of the lower classes and not for the functioning of the bourgeoisie itself.