Pressure grows for Reid to declare UDA ceasefire over

Northern Ireland Secretary of State Dr John Reid has come under pressure to reveal what action he plans to take against loyalist paramilitaries suspected of the murder of journalist Martin O’Hagan.

Respected Sunday World journalist Martin O’Hagan was gunned down near his home in Lurgan on Friday 28 September as he returned home from the pub with his wife. A call to a Belfast newsroom revealed that the Red Hand Defenders, a cover name sometimes used for the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) and Ulster Defence Association (UDA), claimed they had carried out the murder.

In a BBC interview Chief constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan said the police were pursuing enquiries along loyalist paramilitary lines. On Monday October 1 Sir Ronnie: “At this stage, local involvement by the LVF is a very firm line of enquiry that we are pursuing. It is a very early stage in the investigation, so we are not ruling out absolutely other possibilities, but at this stage we are firmly pursuing what we believe was activity by local elements of the so-called LVF.”

Dr Reid made a statement late on Friday afternoon, hours before Mr O’Hagan was shot, that he was not declaring the UDA ceasefire over. He stressed however that their ceasefire would be under hourly review. He added that if he learned of any activity carried out by the group that he would specify them and call their truce over.

As a result of this, SDLP member Bríd Rodgers said that she was planning to speak to Dr Reid on Monday about the UDA ceasefire. She said: “I am expecting to speak to the speak to the Secretary of State today and I will want to know what his assessment now is, in light of his statement last week about specifying the UDA, because it seems all the evidence seems to point at the LVF in this situation and Secretary did say that he would base any decision specified on the scale level and pattern of UDA violence.”

She added: “If the evidence points to certain paramilitaries having a pattern and a scale and a level of violence which clearly indicates that their ceasefire is no longer in place, I would expect the secretary despite the difficulties of the position to make a firm decision.”

Detectives have made a fresh appeal to anyone who was in the Carnegie Inn on Friday night or who saw Mr O’Hagan and his wife after they left the bar. In the next few days detectives are expected to visit the Sunday World offices in Belfast to get access to data stored on his computer. It is thought they may hold the clue as to the identity of his murderer. (AMcE)