A LOYALIST PARAMILITARY was arrested by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in Northern Ireland in 1993 after he aroused their suspicions by taking a shower.
State Papers released this month reveal how the man in question was arrested in somewhat unusual fashion.
In the early 1990s, the RUC noticed that loyalist paramilitaries were becoming more professional. Learning from the IRA, they were better prepared for questioning by police and had started to destroy evidence by burning out getaway cars and taking showers after operations.
However, on one occasion, a shower led to the downfall of one paramilitary. He followed orders by washing after taking part in an attack, but then had to sign on at a police station as a condition of his bail for another offence.
When he turned up at the station “still dripping wet from his shower”, a file from January 1993 notes, suspicions were raised because “the person in question was not known for his regular bathing habits”. He was immediately arrested, and the RUC said they were confident of securing a conviction.
In general, State Papers – official documents from Government departments and the President’s Office – are declassified and released to the public 30 years after the fact.
However, some records are released before or after that timeframe for various reasons. For example, records related to the peace process in Northern Ireland are now typically released after 20 years.
According to files released this month, Irish officials were concerned about possible cross-border attacks and worried that SDLP leader John Hume was a target in 1993.
Loyalists were also developing a more sophisticated political viewpoint, based on opposition to what they called a “pan-nationalist front”. If the SDLP and the Irish government were taking a similar line to Sinn Féin, then they too would be considered legitimate targets.
Observers were convinced that this viewpoint was the work of an unidentified academic. There were also claims that elements in the DUP and from the unionist middle-class were giving “a political and intellectual focus” to loyalist paramilitaries.
However, one loyalist contact advised Irish officials not to overstate this political sophistication, telling them: “In the final analysis, recruits join the UVF to shoot people.”
Other documents unsealed this month show that in May 1997 John Steele, a senior officer in the Northern Ireland Office, admitted to his Irish counterparts that the loyalist ceasefire had in effect broken down, but that it would be counterproductive to exclude their political representatives from the talks process.
“Their presence at the talks was, at least, a restraining influence, serving to prevent the wilder elements from indulging in even more sectarian violence.” This remark was made at a time when Sinn Féin was excluded from the talks because the IRA was not engaged in a ceasefire.
State Papers reference numbers: 2024/28/6; 2024/28/7; 2024/28/10; 2024/71/105; 2024/71/106; 2024/71/377; 2024/71/392
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