Cover-up let IRA priest escape after Claudy bombings atrocity
A priest involved in one of Northern Ireland's worst terrorist atrocities escaped arrest after police conspired with the government and the Church to protect him, it emerged today.
Father James Chesney was moved to a parish in Donegal in the Republic of Ireland after the 1972 Claudy bombings.
Nine people, including an eight-year-old girl and two teenagers, died and 30 were hurt when three car bombs ex-ploded in the Londonderry village.
The priest — who died in 1980 aged 46 — was transferred following secret talks between Tory minister William White-law and Cardinal William Conway, head of the Catholic Church in Ireland.
They had been approached by a senior Royal Ulster Constabulary officer. Detectives believed Father Chesney was an IRA director of operations and a prime suspect in the attack, but were apparently reluctant to arrest him for fear of inflaming the security situation.
The cover-up was revealed in a report released today by Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson.
His staff examined diaries of Cardinal Conway that confirmed contact with Mr Whitelaw and correspondence between the RUC, led by chief constable Sir Graham Shillington, and the government.
Mr Whitelaw, who was in Edward Heath's Cabinet, died in 1999, Cardinal Conway in 1977 and Sir Graham in 2001.
The report discloses that a detective's request to arrest the priest was refused by an assistant chief constable of RUC Special Branch.
The same senior officer wrote to the government about what could be done to "render harmless a dangerous priest" and asked if the matter could be raised with the Church. In December 1972 Mr Whitelaw met Cardinal Conway.
According to a Northern Ireland Office official "the Cardinal said he knew the priest was a very bad man and would see what could be done" and suggested moving him out of Northern Ireland. Father Chesney was moved across the border in 1973.
Mr Hutchinson said there was no evidence that police could have prevented the attack, and no evidence of criminal intent in the secret deal, but added: "The decision failed those who were murdered, injured and bereaved."
Victims included Kathryn Eakin, eight, Patrick Connolly, 15, and Billy Temple, 16. No one has ever been charged.
