Holland family make “Compelling case” to Attorney General

Holland family make “Compelling case” to Attorney General
The family of Harry Holland the West Belfast greengrocer who was killed near his home two years ago have met with the British Attorney General Baroness Scotland this week to protest at the sentences that were handed out to those involved in his death, members of Mr Holland’s family were joined by the West Belfast MP Gerry Adams.
The 65 year-old was stabbed in the head with a screwdriver when he tried to stop a group of joy riders who were trying to break into his delivery van in September 2007 he was found outside his house by neighbours and he later died in hospital.
Two teenage boys and two teenage girls were arrested for Harry’s murder, but one of the girls was not charged. Before the case went to court, the Public Prosecution Service said there was insufficient evidence to charge Patrick Crossen and the other girl with murder.

The 17 year-old girl who can’t be named for legal reasons admitted to affray and common assault and she has been placed on probation for two years, Patrick Crossen (18) was given four years for attempted affray and possession of an offensive weapon and 18 year-old Stephen McKee was convicted of murder and sentenced to a minimum of twelve years.
After the meeting Gerry Adams said that the PPS did not handle the case properly and the Holland family had made “A compelling case to the British Attorney General about the inadequate way the PPS dealt with this case” The Attorney General has agreed to review the points put to them by the Holland family and come back to them on the matter. After the meeting Harry’s daughter Sarah said “ There are questions we have and we still want answers, why was the decision made to drop the charges against two of the defendants from murder to affray and common assault? Who endorsed this? How did it go from murder charges to a situation where one of the defendants walked free?” Sarah later said that they were pleased that Baroness Scotland agreed to reflect on the case, but that important questions still remained unanswered.

Policing and Justice Debate continues
The policing and justice debate continued this week and it still looks like neither of our main political parties are willing to budge an inch on the issue, Sinn Fein are again accusing the DUP of placing unnecessary object’s in the way of the issue; first it was the Parades Commission and now this week the phasing out of the full-time police reserve was brought into the mix (DUP leader Peter Robinson has now said this will not be a pre-condition for the devolution of policing and justice powers, although his DUP colleague Jeffrey Donaldson said earlier in the week that it would be). Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness warned that the political process could be heading for “Deep trouble” unless a date is set by Christmas for transferring powers from Westminster to Stormont.
The DUP insists they will not advance with devolution unless the unionist community has confidence on the issue, and how they will accomplish that remains uncertain as the unionist community is undoubtedly fractured at the minute. The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) is still making noises from the background and the DUP is well aware that traditional loyalist voters will change their vote to TUV if the DUP get issues like policing and justice wrong, The TUV is already making all the right sounds to seduce more hard-line loyalists and at their party conference in east Belfast last week they said they are “implacably opposed to the transfer of policing and justice powers to a failed Executive in which Sinn Fein exercises a power of veto” they also said to devolve powers to an Executive where Martin McGuinness, Conor Murphy and Gerry Kelly could be given sight of policing issues was “treachery.”


One priest is arrested and another is released
Two Irish priests were in the news this week but for very different reasons, the first was Father Michael Sinnott who while doing missionary work in the Philippines last month was kidnapped by gunmen, he was released yesterday after what Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin described as “a major diplomatic effort by the Irish and Filipino Governments”. The other priest is 81 year-old Father Francis Markey who was arrested at his home in America, Father Markey is wanted by Irish police about offences against a 15 year-old boy in the late 1960s, and he is now facing US extradition proceedings. These two stories highlight the complexity of the modern day Catholic Church.

Shambles at the Brandywell
Derry City Football Club has got into a real mess; the club was expelled from the League of Ireland after the FAI said they broke regulations regarding player’s contracts. The Candystripes were stripped of league status last weekend over allegations the club gave its players secondary, unofficial contracts.
FAI Chief Executive, John Delaney, said the organisation wants to establish the extent of the club's debt. It is thought the range of the debt may be in the region of £500,000 to £800,000.