McCord Killers Taken To Book

THE father of UVF murder victim Raymond McCord Jnr has recalled the agony of the moment when he found out his son was dead in a new book to be published this week.

Justice for Raymond by Raymond McCord, which is published this Friday, gives a moving and heartfelt account of the day police officers called at his home to tell him his beloved son had been killed and his body dumped in a quarry in Newtownabbey.

The book, which has already been serialised in the Sunday World newspaper, also describes McCord's determination to bring the killers to justice and expose the web of dirty dealings which allowed them to target his son.

"I opened the door and there were two men dressed in suits standing on my doorstep.

"One of the officers just said the words: 'Mr McCord, your son's body has been found...' That's all I can remember.

Young Raymond had been struck several times around the head with a breezeblock by members of a north Belfast UVF gang.

So severe were his injuries that the family were not allowed to see his body either at the mortuary or in his coffin at the funeral home.

Less than a fortnight after the murder a number of members within the UVF's Mount Vernon gang had been arrested.

It was another three months before the Mount Vernon group's 'Commanding Officer' Mark Haddock - who has been named as a police informer - was also arrested in the Maze prison.

"The police had received information that Mark Haddock had directly ordered my son’s murder from his prison cell," said Mr McCord.

"From the earliest days of the investigation, the RUC knew who murdered my son and little was being done to bring those responsible to justice.

"To me, the RUC must have thought that because a registered police informant was involved in my son's murder that he was immune from prosecution and the investigation would be hushed up and I would go away quietly."

Mr McCord's investigations into the murky paramilitary underworld began to yield answers to his question of who was responsible for his son's murder.

A frustrated but still determined Mr McCord brought his concerns to the Police Ombudsman's office in the hope that it might be able to help expose the case: "I was a bit nervous because this was a whole new territory for me, but I had to do something for young Raymond and the Police Ombudsman was probably my last chance of getting justice for him," he said.

"...I explained to (Nuala) O'Loan that the majority of these UVF men were informants for Special Branch and were able to carry out these crimes without any fear of being prosecuted as Special Branch were making sure they remained on the streets."

Years of work followed as the Police Ombudsman's office probed Mr McCord's complaint.

In January 2007 the publication of the Ombudsman's report into the matter caused a sensation.

"I sat in total disbelief at just how much Nuala's team had uncovered - corruption, collusion, withholding of evidence and intelligence, cover-ups and murders. The list went on and on."

Mr McCord said he felt vindicated by the report, but emphasised that his fight to bring the killers to justice will continue.

"To those who killed my son, rest assured I am not finished yet, not until the last breath leaves my body," he said.

(BMcC)