not for lack of evidence…?

In an earlier post on today’s PMQs, on the Prime Minister’s ignorance of the reasons why the prosecutions in the Stormont spy-ring case were dropped, I noted a BBC report. The BBC have now updated that report to include comments that I first noticed during a UTV report at 6 pm, from the SDLP’s Mark Durkan, who had a meeting today with the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith – as did the DUP and the UUP. According to the updated report – “The attorney general has said it was not for lack of evidence… but the public interest was the reason”. – there really needs to be a clarification of whose interest is actually being served here.The relevant section from the BBC report is –

Delegations from the DUP, the UUP and the nationalist SDLP held separate meetings on Wednesday with Attorney General Lord Goldsmith to demand clarification of the reasons why the charges were dropped.

Speaking after his party’s meeting, SDLP leader Mark Durkan said the lack of certainty over the issue was deeply damaging.

“The attorney general has said it was not for lack of evidence… but the public interest was the reason,” he said.

“When we pressed him that he needed to explain not just to us but to the public what that interest was, he said that to do so would actually cause more damage than the prosecution would.

“(This) must indicate that they regard the reason as being very dangerous information.”

Pete Baker