**See also this 2012 article here.

News Letter
1 Sept 2018

**13 years later. What a joke.



Robert McCartney and son

The Police Ombudsman is due to publish its report on the murder of Robert McCartney in the Markets area of Belfast some 13 years after his brutal death.

The body confirmed the release date after being approached by the News Letter this week.

The 33-year-old father of two died in the street from knife wounds after a fracas erupted in Magennis’ bar in 2005. His death was widely blamed on IRA members and came at a fragile time politically – before the IRA had decommissioned or Sinn Fein had signed up to policing.

Despite the large number of people in the bar when the row began, no-one reported seeing anything.

The Police Ombudsman took statements from around a dozen members of Sinn Fein who were in the bar, but who were not prepared to engage with the PSNI at that time.

Despite attempted prosecutions, nobody has ever been convicted for the murder.

The ombudsman told the News Letter this week that it was almost ready to release its report.

“We have completed our enquiries and are currently finalising a report on our findings, which will be provided to the family in the coming weeks,” it said.

The matter arose again after the DUP and SDLP at Belfast City Council prepared a motion calling on Sinn Fein members who were in the pub to come forward to the PSNI - and for the ombudsman to finally release its report.

Robert’s sister, Catherine McCartney, said: “I will be glad when it is finally completed but what is actually in it is a different thing altogether.”

She does not have her hopes up for the report. The ombudsman played a key role in the investigation, which it is not set up to do, she said. “I have never believed there was a proper investigation.”

"Jock Davison entered our lives uninvited and took Robert's life". Robert McCartney's siblings condemn Jock Davison's killing but are sickened by tributes

By Suzanne Breen
Belfast Telegraph
07 May 2015



Robert McCartney’s sisters Catherine (left) and Paula were interviewed by our reporter yesterday

The sisters of Robert McCartney have said their campaign for justice has now ended after the murder of Gerard 'Jock' Davison, whom they believe gave the order to kill their brother.

"We wanted Jock to face justice in a courtroom, not down the barrel of a gun," said Catherine McCartney.

"But the type of justice we hoped for has eluded us. We will never see Jock standing in the dock now.

"Our campaign for Robert is effectively over because Jock's death means he can never be held accountable for what he did that night."

Speaking exclusively to the Belfast Telegraph, the McCartney sisters condemned Davison's murder.

The former IRA commander was shot dead on Tuesday morning near his home in the Markets area of Belfast.

Catherine said: "Murder is wrong and can never be justified. As a family, we condemn Jock's murder. But we are sickened that politicians are pretending that he was a saint.

"This man brought death and destruction into our family and into many families across Belfast. It is nauseating that politicians from a range of parties are trying to whitewash his murderous past."

Another sister, Paula McCartney, said: "We have no sympathy for Jock Davison but we do have sympathy for his family. They are now grieving just like we grieved 10 years ago. They now know the pain of losing a loved one."

Robert McCartney, a 33-year-old father-of-two from the Short Strand, was stabbed to death by IRA members outside Magennis's bar in Belfast in January 2005.

His five sisters stepped forward to challenge the Provisionals and the code of omerta which ruled in working-class nationalist areas.

Their impassioned campaign for justice took them across the world, including Strasbourg and Washington where they met President Bush.

The McCartneys have always insisted that Jock Davison gave the order for their brother's murder - a claim he denied.

They say that after the fight broke out in the bar, Davison drew a finger across his throat to indicate to his henchmen what he wanted done to Robert and his friend, Brendan Devine.

Both men were followed into Market Street where they were beaten, kicked, stabbed and left to die. Devine survived but McCartney died in hospital nine hours later.

Catherine said: "Jock Davison didn't wield the knife that killed my brother but we hold him more responsible than the Provo who frenetically stabbed Robert.

"Jock Davison chose to let the mad dog off the leash."

Paula said: "Had Jock Davison not been in Magennis's bar that night, Robert would be alive today.

"The fight in the bar would still have happened but that is all it would have been, a fight.

"At worst, Robert would have been left with bruises and a bloody nose. There would not have been a dead body. It was Jock Davison who chose to turn it into something far more deadly that night.

"As a family we are still living with the repercussions of Jock's actions. We can't even visit Robert's grave. I went a few times but found no comfort there - it was too traumatic."

The McCartney sisters said they were incensed at politicians paying tribute to Davison as a respected and valued community worker.

Catherine said: "Jock is obviously a loss to his family but he is not a loss to the community.

"Jock Davison wasn't a positive person in the community. His legacy to the community is one of death and mutilation. He was involved in numerous murders and punishment beatings.

"There are dozens of families who lost loved ones because of him or who had loved ones beaten to a pulp in alleyways in the dark of night.

"This is a so-called community worker who put people in early graves. Yet nobody is mentioning his victims.

"Had this been Mark Haddock, politicians wouldn't be getting away with spouting this rubbish. I view Jock Davison no differently to Mark Haddock. To whitewash this man's legacy is an insult to his victims. How dare they."

Haddock is a notorious former loyalist terrorist and police informer who was jailed for 12 years last June in London for a knife attack on friend and fellow informer Terry Fairfield. The former Mount Vernon UVF leader has been linked to 21 murders but never convicted of any.

The McCartneys said they were particularly disgusted at Alliance's South Belfast Westminster candidate, Paula Bradhsaw, who expressed "extra sadness" at Davison's murder, stating: "I knew Gerard through the community sector and of his hard work for the Markets community."

Catherine said: "Is that all it takes to wipe out somebody's murderous past, for a politician to cut a yellow ribbon with them at a community event?

"Paula Bradshaw's crass comment illustrates how badly victims are treated in Northern Ireland.

"Politicians bemoaning the loss of Jock Davison is highly offensive to bereaved families sitting at home with empty chairs because of him." The McCartneys also lambasted the police for their comments about Davison.

Detective chief inspector Justyn Galloway said that although Davison, like many people in Northern Ireland, had a past "that is in the past".

Catherine said: "I am appalled at Justyn Galloway's statement. It contradicts everything the PSNI has told us. The police never informed us that Robert's murder investigation was over.

"The police had evidence against Jock Davison. For us, he remained a central suspect in a murder investigation. By these comments it feels like the police had already relegated Robert to the dustbin of history.

"But maybe if a murderer puts on a community worker hat, sits down and has tea and buns with the police, the slate is wiped clean."

In 2008, three men went on trial in connection with Robert's death. Terry Davison, Jock's uncle, was charged with murder; Jim McCormick and Joe Fitzpatrick with causing an affray. All three were found not guilty.

The McCartneys alleged that the police never had any interest in bringing Robert's killers to justice and the prosecution was "just window-dressing".

Catherine said: "Jock was the person we most wanted in the dock because the murder was carried out at his behest.

"But we felt the police were never interested in seriously going after him.

"We felt he was protected. We repeatedly asked detectives if he was an informer. We were just told the issue of informers was irrelevant to the investigation."

The sisters believe that Davison's senior rank in the IRA meant that the organisation initiated a cover-up after Robert's murder, destroying vital evidence.

"Had it been just run-of-the-mill Provos involved, our family would have had a far greater chance of achieving justice," Catherine said.

"But Jock's senior position in the movement meant they were never going to just spit him out."

While Davison was publicly expelled by the IRA for events in Magennis's bar, Catherine said the presence of senior republicans on the ground after his shooting on Tuesday, and the warm tributes paid to him, showed that he remained intricately involved with the organisation.

She said: "Jock Davison entered our lives uninvited 10 years ago. He took away Robert's precious life.

"Had Jock been held accountable by the state for his many murderous actions, justice would never have been meted out to him on the streets.

"I see his murder as an unfortunate, awful result of what happens when the system fails victims.

"You can't leave people without justice."

Paula added: "Had the police acted on evidence, Jock Davison would now be doing time in Maghaberry jail.

"By not upholding the rule of law, the authorities have paved the way for mafia law on the streets."

Detectives investigating shooting of Gerard ‘Jock’ Davison in central Belfast detain 41-year-old man

Henry McDonald
The Guardian
6 May 2015

Police in Northern Ireland have arrested a 41-year-old man in connection with the murder of former IRA commander Gerard ”Jock” Davison.

The man was detained in Belfast on Wednesday morning. Police also searched a flat in the north of the city on Tuesday night in connection with the killing.

Within hours of the fatal shooting in the Markets area of central Belfast, detectives ruled out involvement of hardline anti-peace process republican organisation or loyalist paramilitaries.

Murder scene of Gerard ”Jock” Davison

The murder took place at the corner of Welsh Street and Upper Stanfield Street, close to an office where Davison was employed as a community worker.

Local people reported children screaming, with one shouting: “Daddy, Daddy” when the gunman fired at the ex-IRA activist. The gunman, who witnesses said was wearing a hooded jacket that concealed his face, escaped by running up an alleyway.

Shortly after the shooting several senior republicans from across Belfast visited the inner-city area to support Davison’s family and friends.

Davison is the most senior pro-peace process republican to have been killed since the IRA ceasefire of 1997. Security sources said it was unlikely that any Ulster loyalist group was behind the murders, adding that the killer may have come from the nationalist community and possibly had a longstanding grudge against the victim.

The investigating officer, DCI Justyn Galloway, issued a fresh appeal on Wednesday for information about the killing. “This was a cold-blooded murder carried out in broad daylight in a residential area and it has no place in the new Northern Ireland. The suspect was detained in Belfast this morning and is being questioned at a police station in the city. A property in north Belfast was searched last night as part of the overall investigation,” he said.

“I would again appeal to people who were in the Welsh Street area at 9am yesterday, and who have information about the shooting, to talk to detectives at Musgrave police station.”

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK
Associated Press
5 May 2015

**Please see this search page to find results for past stories about Robert McCartney on this journal: GOOGLE SITE SEARCH



Gerard "Jock" Davison was shot several times on Tuesday morning (Pacemaker)

A central Irish Republican Army figure in one of the outlawed group's most notorious killings has been shot to death in Belfast, residents and police said Tuesday.

No group claimed responsibility for shooting Gerard "Jock" Davison at short range outside his home in the Markets neighborhood of south-central Belfast.

Davison was a Belfast IRA commander when he allegedly ordered IRA comrades in 2005 to attack a man, Robert McCartney. McCartney's widow and four sisters took their demands for justice all the way to the White House, and their embarrassing campaign helped spur the IRA to renounce violence and disarm later that year.

Davison was arrested on suspicion of ordering the killing but not charged. Two others, including his uncle Terence Davison, were charged with McCartney's murder but acquitted in 2008.

McCartney's sisters accused Gerard Davison of making a throat-slashing gesture to his IRA colleagues in the crowded pub shortly before McCartney, 33, was fatally stabbed outside the pub. IRA members confiscated the pub's surveillance video footage, cleaned up the forensic evidence and ordered pub-goers to tell police nothing or risk IRA retaliation, according to police and court testimony.

IRA representatives met McCartney's widow and sisters and offered to have the IRA members responsible killed as punishment, an offer they rejected. The IRA and its allied Sinn Fein party later announced they had expelled three IRA members and eight Sinn Fein members over their alleged role in the assault on McCartney and the evidence cover-up.

Davison's body lay in the street Tuesday outside his home until police covered it with a sheet, then constructed a tent around the scene of the killing to preserve forensic evidence.

Most IRA members are observing a 1997 cease-fire in support of Northern Ireland's peace process. But splinter groups continue to mount bombings and shootings and feuds within their fractured ranks can turn deadly.

In Northern Ireland's last fatal shooting, a former Belfast commander of a faction called the Continuity IRA was killed in April 2014 in Catholic west Belfast.

By Catherine McCartney



"The last posting of 2013 on thebrokenelbow.com is given over to Catherine McCartney, whose brother Robert was brutally murdered by the IRA in January 2005 and who gives her own assessment of the Redemptorist priest, Fr Alec Reid who died last November."

**Please read on >>THE BROKEN ELBOW - ED MOLONEY