“As soon as I got clearance from the IRA…”

Interesting evidence being given at the trial of the men accused of murdering Robert McCartney, in which he accuses the IRA of managing the extent of who could or could not go to the police after Mr McCartney’s killing in January 2005:

Ed Gowdy, 40, said he “can’t remember 90%” of what happened that evening. However he told the court that following the killing, IRA members called to his house on several occasions. He said: “as soon as I got clearance from the IRA, I made a statement to police.”

During cross examination, Mr Gowdy had already admitted lying to police because of perceived paramilitary involvement in the murder. He said that because of where he lived, he “didn’t know the situation at the time, what I could say or what I couldn’t say”.

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